Contemporary counterfeit Irish copper

Blackhawk

This 1766 Irish halfpenny appears to be a contemporary fake. The breaks and lumps near the bottom of the harp/date make me believe that it's cast. Does anyone on the board have knowledge of such things?

lordmarcovan

I don't know if it's cast or not, but it looks like it could be a contemporary counterfeit. Certainly there were plenty of counterfeits.




I dug one here, once.

MSD61

Hi Blackhawk,

Indeed these were widely counterfeited a lot of the time with mismatched halves such as a George II bust with 1766 date or this bust paired with a later date. Many contemporary forgeries have poor engraving even some of the better examples will have crappy quality in the area of the laurel leaves on the bust which yours seems show with the clumping and bumps in the laurel leaf area. Also note the
clumping, yeah a real numismatic term but hey what can I say..lol, over the "B" in Hibernia. Sometimes when you look closely at the rims of these you will see a casting line but not always. The last "6" in 1766 is pretty gummed up as well. I would say your guess is correct that this is a contemporary counterfeit as this series was heavily counterfeited. As far as the originals this series had two types and the difference was the style of the bust.