That means an overall testing strategy must be used except for coins that are very obviously fake. The 7 ways to spot fake silver coins are:įiguring out the legitimacy of a coin is not difficult if the right tests are employed. Equally fortunately, each method is simple to learn and implement. Silver coins are some of the most commonly faked, but fortunately there are methods of spotting frauds. One day those Judas coins may end up in that collection beneath the streets of London.For as long as coin collecting has existed, there have been dishonest brokers looking to make a fast buck by selling fakes. You couldn't possibly say they were handed down from generation to generation, saying these were given to me by my great uncle Judas through 60 generations." Richard Gladdle was more than a little sceptical. Perhaps the most extraordinary case is one in southern India where this year police arrested antiques dealer Monson Mavunkal on forgery allegations.Īmong the treasures at his Kochi home were what he claimed were two of the 30 pieces of silver paid to Judas Iscariot for betraying Jesus Christ. "We would recommend that anyone considering buying an ancient coin speaks to the seller to understand as much as possible about the origins and ownership history of the piece." "Some of the fakes we have recovered are very convincing, and can only be detected by specialist numismatists. Two British and two Dutch men were jailed.Īnd Scotland Yard's Arts and Antiques unit has recently investigated the smuggling of fake ancient coins into the UK.Ī Metropolitan Police spokesman said: 'Seizures have been made recently which include both fake and illicitly excavated coins, which indicates that the same organised criminal networks profit from both these types of criminality. They were made at the European Central Mint in Amsterdam which was later shut down. In the same year border control officers at the North Shields ferry terminal in Northumberland discovered 450,000 counterfeit £1 coins hidden in barrels of metal washers. Image: An example of genuine British currency. At one point he was producing 12,000 coins a day, for which he was paid £2,000 cash a week. He said he had been making the coins for seven years after losing his job as an engineer. In 2012 a man was jailed for five years for making 14 million fake £1 coins in his north London workshop where he said materials were delivered by two mystery men he knew only as Tom and John. The UK's National Crime Agency said the Essex fake £2 coin investigation was a rare example of modern coin forgery, though there have been other cases. "So if you were a villain who wanted to counterfeit coins those are the ones to fake." "The 20 most valuable coins in existence are American," said Richard. It is one of only 10 that were made and the only one privately owned. The world's most expensive coin is a US double eagle gold $20 piece that sold for $19m at a Sotheby's auction earlier this year. "The original, if that were real, is worth £40,000, so you can see if you tried to pass that on in the pub for £3,000, here's a Syracuse decadrachm, someone might think they were getting a real bargain." Richard said: "The trouble was the coins tended to leave universities and schools and get passed on as the real thing." In other trays were ancient Greek decadrachms, official copies of genuine coins kept in the British museum and minted for educational purposes. You can tell that very easily, well we can, but they are highly collectible now as 18th copies.
"English m'lords would wander around Roman ruins and the Italians soon cottoned on to the idea they might like to buy some coins," he said. But these counterfeits were sold to gullible British tourists who've been visiting Rome for hundreds of years. Richard tipped onto the table a box of Roman coins that could have been dug up by a metal detectorist, of which the UK has many thousands. Image: A metal strip used to make counterfeit cash in Essex - in what police described as a rare example of modern coin forgery
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