possible fake 1818 sixpence?

[chris 0]

gooday everyone

i have recently bought an 1818 sixpence that i think is a good coin but it has a colour of brown on the high points of the coin.

overall the coins condition is rather nice and there is very good detail in the coin

i ave added a photo of the coin to show everyone and my thinking is that it is real but whatever the coin was stored in has left behind this nasty looking colour

what do you think fake or real

[Chris Perkins 223]

100% a contemporary fake! Fakes from that era (1816 to 1820) are very common. Usually they are copper of brass coins covered with a thin silver wash.

[Peckris 579]

100% a contemporary fake! Fakes from that era (1816 to 1820) are very common. Usually they are copper of brass coins covered with a thin silver wash.

Yes I have a shilling from (I think) the same date, only just about all the "silver" has washed off mine. The fascinating thing about it is, the detail is absolutely 100% accurate. Which means that either the technique of producing a fake die from a real coin must have been pretty awesome (compare the halfpenny/farthing forgeries of just 50 years earlier which are embarrassingly awful), or someone at the Mint smuggled out genuine dies into which copper blanks were fed. And of course, as these were fakes of silver coins, a hangman's noose awaited anyone caught ...

[Chris Perkins 223]

Yes, I have lots of fakes from that era. Some are good but clearly not official dies. And others are so good that either the forger was as talented as Wyon/Briot/Crocker/Simon etc, or they were nicked dies!!

I wonder if they were stolen some time afterwards when the dies would have no longer been in use. During a later reign.

[chris 0]

got it in the post today

minus the copper coming through its a mighty good copy. the rim is a little giveaway but the rest of the detail even down to the chick in the harp is detailed. A very good forger if i might say

[Peckris 579]

You might be interested in this eBay item - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1816-BULL-HEAD-SILVE...5#ht_823wt_1008

Clearly a similar fake - though the seller doesn't seem to be aware of it, describing it as a "stunning SILVER" coin. Still, one bid for £2.54 shows the buyers aren't fooled anyway.

[chris 0]

ye got mine from the wonderful world of ebay. lucky enough mine was advertised a fake from the beginning. i think it was worth the few pounds i payd for it. dont think il be buying anymore in a hurry though.

interesting to see that everything on the auction you have showed is a pretty good copy minus the spines on the rim which is the obvious giveaway

thanks pekris