Help people!

Sylvestius

What is this exactly (someone on coinpeople was asking), he thought it was an 1819 half sovereign, now;

1) No half sovereigns were struck in 1819

2) It's got an half sovereign obverse, the reverse looks more like a cross between a sixpence and a 10/- (because it's got the ornamental shield but with the legend going around as the half sovereign).

3) The colour ain't right...

See here...

Coin pic

So what do you guys think? Now i did just think it was a fake, but if it was a contemporary fake it wouldn't have got very far, if it was aimed at collectors it wouldn't even have got that far...

Could it be some kind of token/gaming counter or something?

AuldFartte

That does NOT look like gold. Dunno what it is, but I've seen similar things in brass.

Aethelred

That looks like a token or counter of some sort.

Sylvestius

I thought much the same, i know gaming tokens were made out of brass.

lordmarcovan

Yup. Token or counter. Probably contemporary, but certainly not gold.

Sylvestius

Well it gets better...

Firstly the guy must know jack squat about coins, firstly he's still insisting it's gold, secondly this 'half sovereign' he keeps going on about is about 32mm in diameter...

Which means that the obverse and reverse are indeed correct cos it's supposed to be a half crown! Obviously a fake one at that...

I've tried explaining to him that there were no gold coins in England at that time larger that a sovereign... it tell him it's a fake halfcrown, he says 'yeah but what about the color', i said to be honest, i don't know... ? (why make a half crown gold coloured? unless it was brass with a silver wash?)

I think this guy needs lessons in 'not all things that glitter are gold'. It's very frustrating how they can confuse the two to be honest... there's a pretty major difference.

Askari

It could very easily be a jeton. It was common to imitate real coins (usually somewhat more crudely than the original but sometimes quite accurately) but mismatch obverses and reverses to avoid being arrested as a counterfeiter. Gold jetons are quite rare; usually what is encountered is brass or gilt base metal (typically bronze or copper).