A counterfiet story.
keets
Posts: 25,351 ✭✭✭✭✭
I stopped in the Coin Shop for a short while this morning and one of the guys had some early coppers he wanted me to look at, two Bar Coppers and a few Connecticuts and Fugios. He asked if I thought they were genuine and I asked what he thought.............................
Back in the late 70's till about 1986 he had a job delivering furnaces which took him to homes as well as industrial complexes for small businesses such as machine shops. At one delivery he noticed what he thought was a quarter laying in the driveway and when he picked it up he was surprised to find a Bar Copper. Strange place to find a Colonial Coin, wouldn't you say?? He stashed it away and some time later on a subsequent trip to the same company he was asked if he could haul away some scrap/trash since he had the use of the truck. He agreed and as he was loading everything he noticed some hard rubber mats about 18" square that didn't seem to fit in with the other items. When he unstacked them and gave a closer look he found impressions of the Bar Copper and other Colonials in the mats. A little scrutinizing yielded quite a few "rejects" scattered among the mats and in the area of the shop that he'd been cleaning out!!!! Evidentally they'd been hammering out the counterfiets to make crude copies.
I'd have to say that of all the couterfiets that I've seen through my 40+ years in the hobby that the Bar Copper is the one I see the most. I assume it's because the design is so simple it's easy to copy. Has anyone else ever heard of an enterprising indivdual opening up their own Mint like this???
Al H.
Back in the late 70's till about 1986 he had a job delivering furnaces which took him to homes as well as industrial complexes for small businesses such as machine shops. At one delivery he noticed what he thought was a quarter laying in the driveway and when he picked it up he was surprised to find a Bar Copper. Strange place to find a Colonial Coin, wouldn't you say?? He stashed it away and some time later on a subsequent trip to the same company he was asked if he could haul away some scrap/trash since he had the use of the truck. He agreed and as he was loading everything he noticed some hard rubber mats about 18" square that didn't seem to fit in with the other items. When he unstacked them and gave a closer look he found impressions of the Bar Copper and other Colonials in the mats. A little scrutinizing yielded quite a few "rejects" scattered among the mats and in the area of the shop that he'd been cleaning out!!!! Evidentally they'd been hammering out the counterfiets to make crude copies.
I'd have to say that of all the couterfiets that I've seen through my 40+ years in the hobby that the Bar Copper is the one I see the most. I assume it's because the design is so simple it's easy to copy. Has anyone else ever heard of an enterprising indivdual opening up their own Mint like this???
Al H.
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Edited to say: he makes store cards for companies, not coin reproductions. Usually the obverse of a neat coin, with the reverse being the advertisement.
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