Fake pound coins

I see so many these days, I get handed them every other day and find
them in my till most days, somtimes I have found as many as seven in a
day, I often get either denile that they are fake or denile that such
things exist, how about a free and downloadable poster warning of fake
pound coins in order to raise awareness? would that be a good idea?

On Wed, 13 Jun 2007 15:52:26 -0700, wrote:

I see so many these days, I get handed them every other day and find
them in my till most days, somtimes I have found as many as seven in a
day, I often get either denile that they are fake or denile that such
things exist, how about a free and downloadable poster warning of fake
pound coins in order to raise awareness? would that be a good idea?

I don't know, but I _do_ wonder how much it will take for Brits to
mistrust their pound coins enough to refuse them. I've heard of these
things for years, and I think I have one.

Padraic

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

"Padraic Brown" wrote in message
news
On Wed, 13 Jun 2007 15:52:26 -0700, wrote:

I see so many these days, I get handed them every other day and find
them in my till most days, somtimes I have found as many as seven in a
day, I often get either denile that they are fake or denile that such
things exist, how about a free and downloadable poster warning of fake
pound coins in order to raise awareness? would that be a good idea?

I don't know, but I _do_ wonder how much it will take for Brits to
mistrust their pound coins enough to refuse them. I've heard of these
things for years, and I think I have one.

Padraic

--


I have about 60

Dale

On Jun 13, 6:52 pm, wrote:
I see so many these days, I get handed them every other day and find
them in my till most days, somtimes I have found as many as seven in a
day, I often get either denile that they are fake or denile that such
things exist, how about a free and downloadable poster warning of fake
pound coins in order to raise awareness? would that be a good idea?

I thought you might find this site usefull, some of the stats and such
are very interesting. Hope you find it helpful. Best regards, Ray

http://www.coinauthentication.co.uk/poundfiles.html

I`m sorry I should have added this info as well. I hope members find
the site useful and informative. Best Regards, Ray


The number of counterfeit British one-pound coins withdrawn from
circulation remains low

The British Royal Mint released to the editor the annual number of one-
pound counterfeit coins withdrawn by the banks over the last five
years. These figures shown no significant increase in withdrawals
since Royal Mint surveys in 2002 and 2003 showed that just less than 1
per cent of circulating one-pound coins were counterfeit.

Year No. counterfeit coins withdrawn*
2001: 162,000
2002: 81,500
2003: 133,000
2004: 135,000
2005: 86,500

[*This is, "the number of one-pound coins declared as counterfeit by
the banks and returned to the Royal Mint". It traditionally includes
any counterfeits seized by the police and sent to the Royal Mint for
destruction. This figure does not include counterfeits included with
worn and damaged coins sent to the Royal Mint by the banks for
recycling.]

The average withdrawal rate over the five-year period is 119,600. In
December 2004 1,410 million one-pound coins had been issued into
circulation. One per cent of counterfeit coins in circulation means
about 14 million counterfeits. At the current withdrawal rate it would
take more than 120 years to remove the current counterfeits from
circulation. It would appear that the banks and coin handlers are
failing to meet the challenge being presented to them by the
counterfeiters.

http://www.coinauthentication.co.uk/newsletter6.html

On 14 Jun, 05:04, RayCanada wrote:
I`m sorry I should have added this info as well. I hope members find
the site useful and informative. Best Regards, Ray

The number of counterfeit British one-pound coins withdrawn from
circulation remains low

The British Royal Mint released to the editor the annual number of one-
pound counterfeit coins withdrawn by the banks over the last five
years. These figures shown no significant increase in withdrawals
since Royal Mint surveys in 2002 and 2003 showed that just less than 1
per cent of circulating one-pound coins were counterfeit.

Year No. counterfeit coins withdrawn*
2001: 162,000
2002: 81,500
2003: 133,000
2004: 135,000
2005: 86,500

[*This is, "the number of one-pound coins declared as counterfeit by
the banks and returned to the Royal Mint". It traditionally includes
any counterfeits seized by the police and sent to the Royal Mint for
destruction. This figure does not include counterfeits included with
worn and damaged coins sent to the Royal Mint by the banks for
recycling.]

The average withdrawal rate over the five-year period is 119,600. In
December 2004 1,410 million one-pound coins had been issued into
circulation. One per cent of counterfeit coins in circulation means
about 14 million counterfeits. At the current withdrawal rate it would
take more than 120 years to remove the current counterfeits from
circulation. It would appear that the banks and coin handlers are
failing to meet the challenge being presented to them by the
counterfeiters.

http://www.coinauthentication.co.uk/newsletter6.html

Obviously too many are getting by, and if its so little publicized
people are refusing they exist, then I think it would be great if the
Royal Mint or Bank of England or even a third party created a poster
that retailers could download and print out.

What I mean to say it, 1% of coins being fake I would say is probably
wrong, I would say every other bag of coins I open (some of which are
sealed bags) contains a fake, I would guess that there are more like
2.5% of fake £1 coins.

£2 pound coin fakes I have not seen for a long time, but as all the
ones I saw were Lead, it was easy to convince people they were fake,
by scratching them up good with my keys, which is something I always
do with fake lead £1 coins when I am handed one, but I rarely come
across those.

On Wed, 13 Jun 2007 18:48:52 -0500, "Dale Hallmark" dalehall at
cableone.net wrote:


"Padraic Brown" wrote in message
news
On Wed, 13 Jun 2007 15:52:26 -0700, wrote:

I see so many these days, I get handed them every other day and find
them in my till most days, somtimes I have found as many as seven in a
day, I often get either denile that they are fake or denile that such
things exist, how about a free and downloadable poster warning of fake
pound coins in order to raise awareness? would that be a good idea?

I don't know, but I _do_ wonder how much it will take for Brits to
mistrust their pound coins enough to refuse them. I've heard of these
things for years, and I think I have one.

Padraic

--


I have about 60

What makes the things so easy to fake? It sounds like Britain is awash
in fake pound coins! Do people just accept that there's a good
likelihood that they're going to receive fakes in change and simply
pass em on as part of the day's transactions?

I've received exactly _one_ counterfeit US coin in 15 or 20 years of
using and being aware of coins. I realise that pound coins are a
valuable target (what, about $2 each), but it just seems like the UK
government isn't doing anything about it. You'd think that they'd
redesign the things or use a different metal or a bimetal composition
of some sort -- anything to make one of the premier currencies of the
world harder to fake.

Padraic

Dale


--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

I'm not sure but the problem seems to be a growing one, I have been
following it over the past few years and the one pound coins seem to
be growing in the proportion of forgery's and variety's. I suspect
there are a few factors at play, organised crime can make a tidy
profit off of them, they are also getting more sophisticated as well.

I also think the one way they are making it into circulation is
through clubs,pubs and such places with high turnover,where people may
not have the time to check their change closely. To me it's a
fascinating problem and is all most another part of Englands history
from the days of clipping coins to forging coppers, though the
penalty's are not as steep maybe the have to go back to the days of
having people drawn and quartered, then hung to deter the problem,
though I do agree if you are on the receiving end of allot of this
coinage it's not a good thing.

A poster of some sort could be useful, though one might have trouble
keeping it up to date as the forgery's seem to be changing more often
now than they were a few years ago. I'm also not sure why the Banks
have such trouble with removing them from circulation, maybe someone
in the U.K. could shed some light on that aspect of things.


Best Regards, Ray

I have to agree that they are in abundance. I think the issue is that
generally only collectors look at their change, shopkeepers do not check
coinage, and therefore the counterfeits get readily circulated. The coins do
not wear well in circulation and a high percentage are very worn making
detcetion of counterfeits even more difficult. I know the latest designs
were intended to overcome this issue, but alas they are also wearing
rapidly.

The pound coin is a popular coin, and is a very handy coin in that it is
small but still retains purchase power and is used for many smaller
transactions, so they are passing hands regularly.

I used to own a fruit machine, and it was at this time that I discovered
just how many fakes were about. The machine used to reject them regularly,
and then once you had a closer look the fakes were readily identifiable.
Usually the best indicator is the poor edge lettering, and the uneven
reeding to the edges.

You have to wonder if the government are that concerned, at the end of the
day the coin still repeatedly gains them tax while its doing the rounds,
fake or not!!!

Colin G.


wrote in message
oups.com...
I see so many these days, I get handed them every other day and find
them in my till most days, somtimes I have found as many as seven in a
day, I often get either denile that they are fake or denile that such
things exist, how about a free and downloadable poster warning of fake
pound coins in order to raise awareness? would that be a good idea?