Charles 1 1648 Pontefact Siege coin

[Guest nkarnold]

Hi,

Im not a collector/dealer, in fact I know nothing about coins, but ive come across this

http://www.nays00031.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/back.JPG

http://www.nays00031.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/front.jpg

These are pictures of my coin, and from my research ive established

Its a charles I 1648 Pontefract Siege coin.

Ive also seen the same coin command £2k+ at a recent auction and from other coin websites, it appears to be quite a rare item.

My problem is, If its valuable, I would like to pass it on to someone, who probably appeciates more than I do.

1. It looks far too new, to be an original ? any comments

2. Were any replica's of any quantity produced recently ?

3. How do i make sure a coin trader doesn't just tell me its a copy and gives me £20.00 for it

4. what should i do next with it?

sorry, if these are dumb questions, but ive no idea where to start with it.

[Chris Perkins]

It looks suspiciously well rounded to me, which is wrong because seige pieces were usually struck in a hurry without much care (even the 'proper' coinage of that era was often awful).

On a quick glance I'd say it's modern, but your pictures are not very good. Any chance of some sharper ones? They're a bit big too.

[Geordie582]

It looks more like a milled copy to me. As you said, Chris, it's too rounded.

[simon]

And if you have a proper look at the incription you'll notice that the letters don't have the same spaces as the original. Everything looks a bit too shiny and too perfect...

Hope you haven't spent too much

Simon

[Coppers]

While we're on the subject of copies and forgeries, here's one that has an interesting story behind it.

Gold Pistole Forgery

[krasnaya_vityaz]

The devices of the piece are too high, it is too rounded etc. Actually it appears to have been made in the last 20 years or so, and probably as some promotion or something.

[TomGoodheart]

It's a modern reproduction. Although I do keep records of repro coins I don't seem to have a scan of this one so I'm afraid I can't tell you who made it. Sorry.

Value will depend on 1) material (if it's silver you'll get at least bullion)

2) if anyone's interested - since it is clearly a modern copy it will probably be less attractive to potential buyers than one that looks more 'realistic'.

My advice? - keep it as a souvenier.