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Nordle11

BBC one - fake Britain

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There's a segment on bbc 1 in the next 10 minutes about the most advanced fake 2 pound coin ever seen, might be of some interest.

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41 minutes ago, Nordle11 said:

There's a segment on bbc 1 in the next 10 minutes about the most advanced fake 2 pound coin ever seen, might be of some interest.

Saw it, thanks for heads up, Matt.

Very interesting. It appears that a particularly convincing fake has been produced - most likely from China, as the seizure of batches of bi metallic Euro coins was mentioned, after travelling from Shanghai to Naples.

The fake coins seem to be mainly, if not exclusively, dated 2011, and are the normal £2.00 reverse design. £2,500 worth of £2 coins were withdrawn from a bank for testing. All passed machine validation for weight, and subsequently 30 out of 30 times in a vending machine mechanism, successfully. However, the two testers decided to sift all the coins by hand. A fake was found - not sure if anymore were, but there are thought to be many in circulation. What drew the attention of the testers to this particular coin was the fact that the obverse was many degrees out of rotation with the reverse. I know we see this on genuine coins from the Victorian era, but these days it shouldn't happen. On closer inspection under strong magnification, the inscription mint mark on the side, was found to be defective compared to the real thing.

What made the coins even more convincing was that the weight was very close to the 12 grams it should weigh, plus a minus a few decimal points. However, an x ray machine designed to produce a breakdown of the metals used, revealed a discrepancy. Not a major one, but the genuine one was I think 73% Cu, and the fake 68%,

The Royal Mint are concerned, but I'm really not sure what they can do. They did say that a very sophisticated piece of kit would be required to produce fakes of this standard. 

At the start of the segment, when the presenter held both the fake and a genuine one side by side, I knew instantly which was the fake. Don't ask me how. Could have been a lucky guess, but there was just something about the appearance. I will be keeping a close eye on £2.00 coins from now on, especially ones dated 2011.          

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I'm afraid we need a bit more than 10 minutes notice, so missed it.

There is going to be a rip-off Britain program on 'investment' coins some time soon, but don't know when. I declined to take part on the ground that the programme title precluded objectivity. I don't have access to the BBC's schedule.

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Its been on before and was all set up for filming IMO.

You can watch it now on BBC Fake Britain on iplayer.

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28 minutes ago, Rob said:

I'm afraid we need a bit more than 10 minutes notice, so missed it.

There is going to be a rip-off Britain program on 'investment' coins some time soon, but don't know when. I declined to take part on the ground that the programme title precluded objectivity. I don't have access to the BBC's schedule.

What was the title?

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1 hour ago, 1949threepence said:

What was the title?

The series is called rip-off Britain. It doesn't really leave much scope for reallocation of blame, which manifestly should be the case for those who spend tens of thousands on 'investments' from the LMO and similar without doing due diligence. They certainly wouldn't buy a car without taking it for a test-drive.

To my mind it is simply sellers pandering to the market. People want to be greedy and see unrealistic returns ahead of them, and so the market will oblige.

Caveat emptor should outweigh all other arguments, but a programme title demanding that people are being ripped-off can't afford to say the audience is to blame - so there's no danger of an objective discussion

 

Edited by Rob

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39 minutes ago, Rob said:

The series is called rip-off Britain. It doesn't really leave much scope for reallocation of blame, which manifestly should be the case for those who spend tens of thousands on 'investments' from the LMO and similar without doing due diligence. They certainly wouldn't buy a car without taking it for a test-drive.

To my mind it is simply sellers pandering to the market. People want to be greedy and see unrealistic returns ahead of them, and so the market will oblige.

Caveat emptor should outweigh all other arguments, but a programme title demanding that people are being ripped-off can't afford to say the audience is to blame - so there's no danger of an objective discussion

 

Right, so the title of the series then. Understandable.

With such a title, participants are kind of on a defensive backfoot before they even say a word, so I see exactly where you are coming from. Also "investment coins" is looking at the situation from a very mercenary non collector type angle. 

The job of the producers will clearly be to trip up any coin dealers, so those taking part wll do so with an advance health warning. 

 

Edited by 1949threepence

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11 hours ago, Rob said:

I'm afraid we need a bit more than 10 minutes notice, so missed it.

There is going to be a rip-off Britain program on 'investment' coins some time soon, but don't know when. I declined to take part on the ground that the programme title precluded objectivity. I don't have access to the BBC's schedule.

It was more a time-stamp so you could look back on BBC iPlayer, but glad a few people got it at the time.

It was pretty interesting to see, although I was expecting them to pull out 4, 5, 6+ fakes from £2,500 worth of £2 coins and not just the one.

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16 hours ago, Nordle11 said:

It was more a time-stamp so you could look back on BBC iPlayer, but glad a few people got it at the time.

It was pretty interesting to see, although I was expecting them to pull out 4, 5, 6+ fakes from £2,500 worth of £2 coins and not just the one.

If it was just the one, and they'd looked at the lot, rather than stopping at the first one they found, then it's only a 0.08% find rate, and probably quite representative as it was a fair sized sample. Either that, or there were more, but they were so good, they escaped scrutiny.  

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8 hours ago, 1949threepence said:

If it was just the one, and they'd looked at the lot, rather than stopping at the first one they found, then it's only a 0.08% find rate, and probably quite representative as it was a fair sized sample. Either that, or there were more, but they were so good, they escaped scrutiny.  

That's true, I'm relying on them identifying every fake in that batch which they probably can't do, especially not if they are as good as that one that kept passing the coin slot test.

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This has just been on so probably on catch up.

A shame that people buy into the modern proofs etc.

Notice in this months coin news a dealer states.......if you have some money in the bank give me a ring.

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59 minutes ago, PWA 1967 said:

This has just been on so probably on catch up.

A shame that people buy into the modern proofs etc.

Notice in this months coin news a dealer states.......if you have some money in the bank give me a ring.

Was this the one on coins and if so how do you find it?

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Thanks Nick

It didn't tell us anything we don't already know. However, it might be useful to send 'Henry' a link so he has an appreciation of what his employer does to allow himself such opulent surroundings. Interesting as well that LMO offered to refund him in full. Hopefully a lot of other people will make the same request.

The person in the library was our own GeoffT

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6 minutes ago, Rob said:

Interesting as well that LMO offered to refund him in full. Hopefully a lot of other people will make the same request.

Bet they won't get the same offer though.  Unless the BBC gets involved again.

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1 hour ago, Rob said:

Thanks Nick

It didn't tell us anything we don't already know. However, it might be useful to send 'Henry' a link so he has an appreciation of what his employer does to allow himself such opulent surroundings. Interesting as well that LMO offered to refund him in full. Hopefully a lot of other people will make the same request.

The person in the library was our own GeoffT

The thing is Rob if you already no you would not be ripped off.

Thats why not just this instance but many others allow people to think twice .

Pete.

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Latest one in Manchester is very good for the scum.

Quick call ....we will come and have a look.

Will you or someone else be in on such a day at such a time..........Robbed :(

Old people amongst others are honest and dont think they will not get caught , no matter how clever you are these scum will get you if they want to.

Easy to find an address set up a false meeting and watch you drive from your house to it :(

They will be in as soon as they watch you drive off.

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The entrance to my house is reminiscent of the Petra entrance in Temple of Doom. Just in case any Manc scum are lurking :ph34r:

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Just watched this.The suckers will always get ripped.If they joined a forum like predecimal they can get free advice and Chris can sell them a Churchill Crown for £1.Nice to see Geoff.

BTW I have manflu and daughters are fussing...we all need a bit of TLC.:rolleyes:

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6 hours ago, PWA 1967 said:

This has just been on so probably on catch up.

A shame that people buy into the modern proofs etc.

Notice in this months coin news a dealer states.......if you have some money in the bank give me a ring.

That so called reputable dealer ....IMO...should be .......i need to chill.

Lovely guy who i have just had a chat with....must of been smiling .

Its not fair to say if you have a few quid in the bank i will sell you ones that will go up............?

The ones he offered me -_- and coin news allowed him to put it in a full page add.

The three that were talked about..........i am out of here for this one :)

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8 hours ago, PWA 1967 said:

This has just been on so probably on catch up.

A shame that people buy into the modern proofs etc.

Notice in this months coin news a dealer states.......if you have some money in the bank give me a ring.

He is saying if you want to see the money in your bank account grow, then get some coins. Presumably he is going to pay you to take his crap off his list, as buying them would deplete funds. I was going to say that's a win-win situation, but on reflection, maybe only a win-  as you would still end up with the coins.

Edited by Rob

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