Is my Gibraltar 2003 £1 "St George" coin a fake?

[Guest lawrencew]

Hi there.

I was out with a friend once in a pub, and he had a £1 coin from Gibraltar. I didn't realise at the time, but it was depicting St George slaying the dragon, as depicted on the sovereigns. He spent it in that pub. A few days later, I was given an identical coin elsewhere. I'd never seen one before/since.

I've kept hold of the coin, as I was born on St George's day (23rd April) and hence my middle name is also "George". I really like the coin because of it.

I decided to look for more information about the coin today, and I'm really struggling. The only thing that I could find was this page about the coin being produced: http://www.centercoin.com/pobjoy_mint/gibr...dragon_coin.htm

My heart sank a little, as my version of the coin simply says "£1" at the bottom of the tails side, rather than "MMIII", and on the heads side the text reads (starting from the bottom left, clockwise) "2003 Gibraltar Elizabeth II", rather than "Elizabeth II Gibraltar 2003", as depicted on the above website. I'm also worried that the colour is quite poor for a 2003 coin, although I suppose that it could have seen a lot of action since then - I always forget that 2003 was six years ago! The edge of the coin is milled with lines and smooth gaps, but no text.

So... Is my coin likely to be fake? Or could one matching the specifications I've described have been made? It seemed to me that making a fake of a Gibraltar coin would be a little pointless, but on the other hand fake Gibraltar coins are less likely to be understood as fakes in the UK, so it's almost quite clever.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated, and maybe suggestions of good places to purchase sovereigns too?

Thanks,

Lawrence

[Goddard]

Hi there, I don't have much information about the coin but I found one for sale here.

http://cgi.ebay.com.sg/GIBRALTAR-1P-2003-K...93%3A1|294%3A30

[Guest lawrencew]

Hi there, I don't have much information about the coin but I found one for sale here.

http://cgi.ebay.com.sg/GIBRALTAR-1P-2003-K...93%3A1|294%3A30

Ah yes, this is exactly how mine looks...