Evasion Halfpenny

[Guest DAS_I'm_a_Guest]

Does anyone know anything about "Evasion" halfpennies?

[Chris Perkins]

DAS,

(Hello, I assume you are the same DAS that has been a good customer these last few weeks!)

An Evasion Halfpenny, or an evasion anything for that matter is a counterfeit coin, deliberately made to differ enough from the real thing to avoid being illegal.

I would imagine some of the British fake George III half pennies with legends like 'George III Rules' and so on, could be described as such. The maker could claim that they are commemorative or token coins in celebration of the king, when really at that time when poor people couldn't read all that well, they could also be readily passed off as the real thing, but with little risk of prosecution for the maker.

I think I probably have a few Evasion halfpennies and most seem to be from the reign of George III.

Another example given in this years coin yearbook is the imitation Sumatran coins by European merchants that were inscribed SULTANA instead of SUMATRA!

Chris

www.predecimal.com

[Guest DAS_I'm_a_Guest]

Thanks Chris ( yes it's me!)

I couldn't work out why a fake would be made so obviously fake , but with a lot of attention to detail, but your answer makes sense.

Is there much of a market for these?

DAS

[Chris Perkins]

Yes they certainly are collectable. I believe GIII halfpennies also readily circulated in colonial America and there are even types that were made there.

No doubt there's a book about them somewhere.

Do you have some to sell?

Chris

[Guest DAS]

Unfortunately no, but there is one for sale on Ebay at the moment.

[arthurcrown]

Thought I'd resurrect an ancient post on the subject !!

I was looking for a George I halfpenny to replace my current one and came across this evasion piece on everyone's favourite Marmite site, ebay. As these cheeky pieces are historically interesting themselves I put in a low bid and won it.

It's dated 1721 but the bust is facing left as George II and with the legend reading 'George ruled' I'm wondering if it was probably produced at a later date ? R.Ingram Coins have a 1730 evasion halfpenny listed with a George III bust which would back up my theory.

Most of the others I've seen listed are also George III pieces so I'm having trouble finding one to compare it with and get some info on.

As regal issue coins are usually my thing i was wondering if anyone knew if this a listed variety and it's possible real date ?

Thanks

[azda]

Looks like Geo II to me circa 1746 ish

[arthurcrown]

Thanks for that, I've just compared it with my 1744 farthing and can see the similarity now. There's some initials below the bust, is this likely to be the makers ? I've read they were a bit brazen and sometimes did it.

[Michael-Roo]

And 'Britain's Isles' on the reverse. Rob would probably be the bloke to ask about the initials under the bust. They are in relief, so unlikely to have been engraved later.

[arthurcrown]

I've seen a couple of George III pieces with the same reverse legend and a slightly different obverse one reading 'George rules'. This is the only one I've seen so far with the initials under the bust though. Is there anywhere the various known evasion pieces might be listed ?

[scott]

I stumbled across one of these on ebay.

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/britain-rules-colonial-milled-410968235

same under portrait initials, dated 1771

[arthurcrown]

Good spot !! . The initials font and Britannias image are the same as on mine aswell so definitely from the same maker. This I'm guessing would probably date it to around the same time.

[Michael-Roo]

Here, from my collection, is an example of a straightforward counterfeit halfpenny of the same period. A very dangerous business to be involved in back then!

[arthurcrown]

So I believe, no 3 square meals a day and warm bed back then. The link that Scott posted reads that the authorities made an example of a young lady by publicy hanging then burning her at the stake !!

If you were to give your coin a quick glance you'd probably never notice it was a counterfeit unless examined.

No wonder there were so many in circulation. Few seem to have survived though compared to regal issues and they're commanding a premium. I guess collectors back then weren't interested in them and they were simply melted down and re-coined ?

[scott]

US buyers pay far too much for some of them, some were made in US at the time as well, so they get listed as colonial and bids skyrocket.

[Peckris]

So I believe, no 3 square meals a day and warm bed back then. The link that Scott posted reads that the authorities made an example of a young lady by publicy hanging then burning her at the stake !!

If you were to give your coin a quick glance you'd probably never notice it was a counterfeit unless examined.

No wonder there were so many in circulation. Few seem to have survived though compared to regal issues and they're commanding a premium. I guess collectors back then weren't interested in them and they were simply melted down and re-coined ?

My understanding (not a scientific response!) is that the authorities were fairly relaxed about the base metal currency. There was a real chronic shortage of small change in George III's time, so if you counterfeited halfpennies with their face value of actual copper, what would you gain by it? The forgery was to meet demand, I'd guess, not to make a personal fortune as with the silver-washed forgeries from 1816. At a guess, that unfortunate woman was a forger of higher denominations than base metal. (The page doesn't say - probably just a piece of lazy research to make the facts look more sensational).

[Mark240590]

Evasions are something I've been very much into for around a year now. And have managed to pick up around 50 on the way including a few bought from the predecimal eBay site. The one which attracted me was the Claudius Romanus and was suprised to find a yet unlisted George III rules ! These coins are awesome and I'm always on the lookout for more !

[Mark240590]

The thing is there were so many proper counterfeit coins in circulation then that the government made it a hangable offence to counterfeit so they then moved to nonsense legends and or impossible dates in order to "evade" the laws. These coins are the ones which brought on the re-coinage and the birth of the cartwheel pennies.