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& Early Milled :|: George III
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Introduction
Over the years I have obtained a number of forged
British coins. Forgers copy coins for usually only two reasons: 1. To fool the
contemporary public with coins representing circulating coins and, 2. To fool
modern day collectors with the hope they will pass the forgeries off as
collectable coins, usually these are only of rarer types.
Of the coins I have, none of them remain
convincing and would not fool many modern collectors. Most of them are also
copies of relatively common coins and this leads me to believe they were made at
the time to fool the public.
Some of the coins I have are incredibly crude and
others are little mini works of art worthy of the Royal mint, only made of
cheaper metals. I have split this section up in an attempt to reduce page
downloading times and on the following pages I will present pictures of these
forgeries and perhaps offer a little information about their metal types,
designs and quality.
Early Milled
I have only 3 early milled forged coins, all from
the reign of William III and all of pretty good quality, although considerably
worn.
The first is a William III Crown dated 1696. It
appears to be made of copper which probably would have originally been silver
plated. The weight is not bad and compares well with the real thing, although
the coin is slightly smaller in diameter. It appears heavily worn and I suppose
it's quite likely that it never would have been struck with the definition of
the real thing.
Forged William III 1696 Crown
The second is a William III Half Crown, worn even
more than the Crown. It's also dated 1696 and is probably copper. Again,
slightly smaller than the real thing but with a realistic weight.
Forged William III 1696 Halfcrown
The third is a Shilling. The date is not
distinguishable (16??) although most of the other legend is. The size and weight
are spot on but the coin is a brassy colour. It has no mint letter so is a copy
of a London mint coin. When silver plated this coin would have been
indistinguishable without scratching away the silver layer. Even in its present
state I am impressed with its quality and craftsmanship.
Forged William III Shilling
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III Forgeries >>
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