Fakes, Frauds & Forgeries - Dangers In Coin & Artefact
Collecting
Fake Coins in Circulation
 Man
jailed over 14m fake £1 coins December 14, 2007
Above: Fake pound coin on top, a genuine
pound coin beneath for comparison.
There seems to be very large numbers of fake pound coins
in circulation at the moment, does anybody have any facts or
figures on this?
Are other denominations of coins being copied too? I
imagine the bi-metal two pound coins would be too expensive
for the forgers to reproduce (but I could be wrong about
that), have you ever seen a fake 50, 20, 10 or 5 pence
piece?
If you have spotted any fake coins in your change and
have a scanner, I would love to see some pictures of them.
When I get some pictures I'll start an online fake coin
photo gallery to help people spot the forgeries. Fake
Pound Coin Update
  Above: Fake pound coin I received in my change today. At
first I thought it was just really badly worn - until I
checked the inscription around the edge - it is almost
illegible in places and what is legible is very poorly
executed.
The thing that most stands out about the
above fake (apart from the dodgy inscription around the
edge, photos coming soon) is that it seems to have been
produced by casting rather than striking, hence the weak
design. Indications that the coin has been
cast rather than struck are strongest on the lettering
around the portrait, click on the image to see a larger
version. For more information about
fake pound coins and a lot more images click here. Fake
Banknotes In Circulation
Famous Forgers and Fakers
Online Auction Sites and Fake Coins and Artefacts
With the rise of online auction sites the market for
antiquities has boomed, unfortunately, the potential for
large profits has caused some very undesirable elements to
enter the fray.
The problem is not just the hundreds of fakes and
forgeries being passed off as authentic ancient objects to
unsuspecting buyers, but also the deliberate
misidentification of genuinely ancient artefacts (for
example, an ancient Persian or Chinese object being passed
off as British or European) to increase the value.
The companies that run the online auctions sites seem
unwilling or unable to tackle the problem, so don't expect
them to protect you from unscrupulous sellers. If you are
new to collecting ancient coins and antiquities, my advice
to you would be to avoid online auctions like the plague, at
least until you have educated yourself sufficiently to know
exactly what you are buying and no longer have to rely on
the sellers description for information about the object.
Resources
Links to Useful Sites
Forgeries of ancient Roman and Greek coins offered for sale
on a large scale on the internet
Gallery of Fakes on Ancient Coin Art
Modern fakes of ancient coins at Calgary Coin
Counterfeits and Counterfeiters: The Modern World by Kevin
Barry |
