The Royal Mint Verification

[DrLarry]

I am intrigued when I hear members ask or suggest that a coin "should be sent to the royal mint for authentication" ...of course they would have all that was needed to verify the trueness of a coin , but what is it they have that any other collector might not have?  Presumably they are not likely to want to spend any time or effort to authenticate a coin considering the replies recently on a point of clear information (how many of X coin were minted in X year) How difficult is it to have this information on a computer?  But I am keen to know what they would do , weigh it, measure it, glance at it, I am sure they are not likely to send it away for scientific analysis.  I suppose they might just have a spectrometer but if I recall when using one of these it would not come cheap.  So considering they will only be doing the exact same thing any one of us could do sitting in the rectory or in your spare room.....why bother to send it? 

What I find difficult to accept is the statement of authority  seems a little disproportionate if only minor expenditure of time and money is their duty.  What else could they be doing to authenticate?  any ideas ?

[ozjohn]

I have also heard that any coin the RM deems to be not genuine is destroyed which seems harsh if they  only give the coin a cursory examination.

[DrLarry]

yes , I suppose by authorising the process to give up the right to have the coin returned.  The same would happen if you sent a coin to trading standards who presumably also have some method to verify a coin.  On some occasions Ebay have asked me to take a coin to trading standards when I have questioned its authenticity 

10 minutes ago, ozjohn said:

I have also heard that any coin the RM deems to be not genuine is destroyed which seems harsh if they  only give the coin a cursory examination.

 

[DrLarry]

I suppose you could use X ray fluorescence but gain I suppose it would depend on the "potential" value of the coin ...but I assume you would then have to pay for the services ?

 

[PWA 1967]

People send hundreds to the Royal mint ,mostly sent by non coin collectors and nearly all errors or atleast the sender thinks they are.

Due to the fact it is F.O.C. the sender feels they have nothing to lose and the letter they return the coin with making it easier to sell unless its crap.

I believe they do now offer a service of which you pay (probably due to all the crap they get ) to authenticate I.e. 1905 half crown.

Although the problem i feel with this is they dont photograph the coin ,meaning that when you sell it there is still nothing to prove it is the coin desribed.

Sorry i have not got a clue what the RM use ,although probably just have an employee who is experienced enough to have been given the job .

Coins are submitted to grading companies of which they also photograph ,seal etc.The royal mint obviously know this and doubt its a big enough market for them to set up a department specifficly just to authorise coins.

Not everyone has the knowledge or any real interest in coins......So they just ask someone to have a look for them and confirm in writing or plastic.

I think the best way to get your answer would be to phone them up or send one 😊

[Unwilling Numismatist]

The coin valuation service is I believe only for pre-decimal coins.

The RM will however examine coins which are potentially erroneous - the case of a bronze 20p springs to mind. I'm unsure if they would attribute a cost to this service, however an email to them may answer you question more fully.

 

and I still haven't forgotten Larry!

[DrLarry]

36 minutes ago, PWA 1967 said:

People send hundreds to the Royal mint ,mostly sent by non coin collectors and nearly all errors or atleast the sender thinks they are.

Due to the fact it is F.O.C. the sender feels they have nothing to lose and the letter they return the coin with making it easier to sell unless its crap.

I believe they do now offer a service of which you pay (probably due to all the crap they get ) to authenticate I.e. 1905 half crown.

Although the problem i feel with this is they dont photograph the coin ,meaning that when you sell it there is still nothing to prove it is the coin desribed.

Sorry i have not got a clue what the RM use ,although probably just have an employee who is experienced enough to have been given the job .

Coins are submitted to grading companies of which they also photograph ,seal etc.The royal mint obviously know this and doubt its a big enough market for them to set up a department specifficly just to authorise coins.

Not everyone has the knowledge or any real interest in coins......So they just ask someone to have a look for them and confirm in writing or plastic.

I think the best way to get your answer would be to phone them up or send one 😊

Thanks ...no I have nothing to send them myself I was just intrigued to know why and what might be done.  Method I suppose more than result.  Yes it amuses me at times and once I even bought one of these "decimal error" coins which I think as just the result of a clever piece of laser cutting. 

[DrLarry]

11 minutes ago, Unwilling Numismatist said:

The coin valuation service is I believe only for pre-decimal coins.

The RM will however examine coins which are potentially erroneous - the case of a bronze 20p springs to mind. I'm unsure if they would attribute a cost to this service, however an email to them may answer you question more fully.

 

and I still haven't forgotten Larry!

LOL  no worries I have 8 kilos of 1960's pennies I am sifting through and taking pictures of to verify my work they will be useful once I have them but there is no hurry...the more you have the better.  If you are in a detecting club ask around for me they always have loads.... but I think are often a little hesitant to let go of them in case it might be a rare one....I am quite interested in them after they have been "dipped" in that strange chemical that gets used LOL 

Edited August 17, 2018 by DrLarry

[1949threepence]

1 hour ago, DrLarry said:

I am intrigued when I hear members ask or suggest that a coin "should be sent to the royal mint for authentication" ...of course they would have all that was needed to verify the trueness of a coin , but what is it they have that any other collector might not have?  Presumably they are not likely to want to spend any time or effort to authenticate a coin considering the replies recently on a point of clear information (how many of X coin were minted in X year) How difficult is it to have this information on a computer?  But I am keen to know what they would do , weigh it, measure it, glance at it, I am sure they are not likely to send it away for scientific analysis.  I suppose they might just have a spectrometer but if I recall when using one of these it would not come cheap.  So considering they will only be doing the exact same thing any one of us could do sitting in the rectory or in your spare room.....why bother to send it? 

What I find difficult to accept is the statement of authority  seems a little disproportionate if only minor expenditure of time and money is their duty.  What else could they be doing to authenticate?  any ideas ?

The Royal MInt do have an x-ray fluorescence spectrometer. It's one of the tests they used a couple of years ago on fake £2 coins in circulation, discovering that the metal mix was out of tolerance. 

[DrLarry]

9 minutes ago, 1949threepence said:

The Royal MInt do have an x-ray fluorescence spectrometer. It's one of the tests they used a couple of years ago on fake £2 coins in circulation, discovering that the metal mix was out of tolerance. 

ok thanks for that I thought that might be the case which might be used and presumably they have a baseline composition for all coins in the collections they have