Collectable Forgeries
Cruzi
Posts: 460
There are some very collectable forgeries, here is a few I would like to get,
Nazi One Pound Notes.
Some of the best forged banknotes ever, these were part of the masterplan to try and ruin the British economy during WWII and are highly sought after by collectors.
1926 Sovereign
Jose Beraha Zdravko was an Italian businessman who saw an interesting opening after WWII. He set about making 1926 sovereigns in 1946. Because sovereigns were just about the only money many would accept after the war, they traded at quite a premium to the gold price. Beraha bought the gold and made 135 sovereigns out of every kilogram of gold ( The Royal Mint makes 136.5 ) and was able to make a profit of $700 a kilo from his coins even though they were a little heavier than the real thing. He ended up amassing quite a fortune and retired to Switzerland where the British Authorities Eventually caught up with him. He ended up winning the case against by saying the coins were no longer legal tender, to emphasise this , he sent an assistant to the UK with some sovereigns to attempt to buy some goods with them. No-one would accept the coins as payment and thus this turned the Swiss Court to his favour.
1942 and 1943 Australian Proof Penny and Half Penny.
India made some of Australia's pennies and halves during WWII, even made a few proof coins. In 1964 a few collectors in Australia were contacted by the Bombay Mint offering them 1942 and 1943 Proofs at discount prices. The Mint had got hold of the old dies, cleaned them up and was starting to make the coins again. The Australian Government got wind of the scheme and demanded the dies be given back. It seems only a very few sets actually got delivered and these can fetch a price higher than the originals.
Platinum Sovereigns
There was a time that platinum was not worth as much as gold and for a breif period in the late 1800's someone in South America was making sovereigns out of platinum, I would really like to get hold of one of these babies now.
There are a few more but that will do for now, does anyone else have any forgeries they would like to obtain ?
Nazi One Pound Notes.
Some of the best forged banknotes ever, these were part of the masterplan to try and ruin the British economy during WWII and are highly sought after by collectors.
1926 Sovereign
Jose Beraha Zdravko was an Italian businessman who saw an interesting opening after WWII. He set about making 1926 sovereigns in 1946. Because sovereigns were just about the only money many would accept after the war, they traded at quite a premium to the gold price. Beraha bought the gold and made 135 sovereigns out of every kilogram of gold ( The Royal Mint makes 136.5 ) and was able to make a profit of $700 a kilo from his coins even though they were a little heavier than the real thing. He ended up amassing quite a fortune and retired to Switzerland where the British Authorities Eventually caught up with him. He ended up winning the case against by saying the coins were no longer legal tender, to emphasise this , he sent an assistant to the UK with some sovereigns to attempt to buy some goods with them. No-one would accept the coins as payment and thus this turned the Swiss Court to his favour.
1942 and 1943 Australian Proof Penny and Half Penny.
India made some of Australia's pennies and halves during WWII, even made a few proof coins. In 1964 a few collectors in Australia were contacted by the Bombay Mint offering them 1942 and 1943 Proofs at discount prices. The Mint had got hold of the old dies, cleaned them up and was starting to make the coins again. The Australian Government got wind of the scheme and demanded the dies be given back. It seems only a very few sets actually got delivered and these can fetch a price higher than the originals.
Platinum Sovereigns
There was a time that platinum was not worth as much as gold and for a breif period in the late 1800's someone in South America was making sovereigns out of platinum, I would really like to get hold of one of these babies now.
There are a few more but that will do for now, does anyone else have any forgeries they would like to obtain ?
0
Comments
Obscurum per obscurius
Some of the best forged banknotes ever, these were part of the masterplan to try and ruin the British economy during WWII and are highly sought after by collectors.
I think those were fivers and not ones.
Adolf Hitler
And counterstamping/etc in response to forgeries, or anticipated forgeries, are fascinating as well and deserve to be in the same discussion.
My wantlist & references
You want how much?!!
NapoleonicMedals.org
(Last update 3/6/2007)
<< <i>The Nazi forgeries (Operation Bernhard) were of five to 50 pound notes. I have a five and a ten pound. DNW had examples of the 10, 20, and 50 pound notes in their most recent auction. I was going to try and buy them but I got the date wrong and missed the sale. >>
How do you distinguish them from the real notes? I think I read somewhere that the fakes were so good that the Swiss banks pronounced them genuine when they were presented with them and asked for an opinion about authenticity (but I might be wrong about that).
"The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media" - William Colby, former CIA director
If you can find and borrow a copy I would reccommend reading Operation Bernhard by Burke. It isn't a easy book to come by, they printed 1000 copies or less. If you are a member of the ANA I would say to try borrowing it from them.