Date: 1558 Description: 1558 Elizabeth I, contemporary copy of a base coinage shilling Cast in lead Weight: 6.65g (genuine examples usually weigh approx. 8g +/- 0.5g) Note: Even though this is a contemporary forgery cast in lead, it is still ‘a bit light’ These ‘contemporary forgery’ Shillings sell for about €120 to €150 each at…
Date: c. 995-1015 ? Description: Although listed as a Phase V Hiberno-Norse silver penny in the Heritage Auction #3030, this coin is much more likely to be a ‘contemporary’ forgery of an Hiberno-Norse Phase I, Class D small cross penny. As such, it is also likely to have originated from an unknown Irish Sea…
Counterfeiting in the 19th C The 19th C began as the 18th C had finished – with people being hanged for ‘coining’ (making counterfeit coins) and ‘uttering’ (trying to spend them), with the exception that women were no longer ‘burned at the stake’ for high treason – they were now hanged along with the men.…
Caveat emptor According to a recent report by the Numismatic Society of Ireland, several examples of this scarce (key date) halfcrown have appeared on the market, so buyers need to be extra vigilant when offered what may look like a bargain from an unusual source. Needless to say, an eBay seller “with little of no…
Caveat emptor Coin forgers have been with us for over a thousand years but this crime is no longer punishable in the medieval way, e.g. in the “Purge of the Moneyers” by Henry I at Christmas 1124, all of the English moneyers were summoned to Winchester, where most of them were castrated and had the…
The Old Currency Exchange is a specialist dealer and valuer of Irish & GB coins, tokens and banknotes 