The pound in your pocket probably isn't worth what you think it is .... not because there is particularly any intrinsic problem with the pound on the international market, but because the pound coin is prone to forgery or copying. The Royal Mint surveys suggest that around 1 in 40 (or 2.89%) of pound coins are forged in the UK, but so far has resisted the calls to recall and scrap all current designs and issue a new set.
South Africa, with an actual forged rate of around 2.5% had to recall and reissue a 5 rand coins when taxi drivers started to refuse them (5 rand is a lot to a taxi driver in South Africa), and public confidence in the coin collapsed .... ironically, many of the UK forgeries are too good and therefore are still usable, so confidence hasn't collapsed, but it can't be too long before a tipping point is reached.
An informal poll in my local pub (we all checked the £1 coins in our pockets) suggested that the 2.89% figure in the UK is on the low side ... a figure of 1 in 10 was more like it. Of course the irony is that we moved to metal pounds to give them a longer life, little thinking that the forgers would immediately move in (Pound notes were notoriously difficult to forge, and hard to pass off), and necessitate recalls at vast expense.
In the US, attempts to introduce the $Dollar coin, have failed because public confidence failed in them before they were properly issued, not because of forgeries, but because the public don't want them. Mind you if the cost of the base metals used to create the forgeries, such as brass and lead, rise enough, then they aren't going to be used for forgeries.
Sometimes the best laid schemes of mice and men and all that ....
These photos were taken from two coins I found out of the twelve in my pocket ..... Just check your pockets now .... but shh, remember its illegal to pass them off to anyone, and the banks don't exchange them for good coins.
PS: I took some £2 coins to the bank a couple of days after this post ... one was declared a forgery, and the bank took it off me with no compensation. So there you are.
South Africa, with an actual forged rate of around 2.5% had to recall and reissue a 5 rand coins when taxi drivers started to refuse them (5 rand is a lot to a taxi driver in South Africa), and public confidence in the coin collapsed .... ironically, many of the UK forgeries are too good and therefore are still usable, so confidence hasn't collapsed, but it can't be too long before a tipping point is reached.
An informal poll in my local pub (we all checked the £1 coins in our pockets) suggested that the 2.89% figure in the UK is on the low side ... a figure of 1 in 10 was more like it. Of course the irony is that we moved to metal pounds to give them a longer life, little thinking that the forgers would immediately move in (Pound notes were notoriously difficult to forge, and hard to pass off), and necessitate recalls at vast expense.
In the US, attempts to introduce the $Dollar coin, have failed because public confidence failed in them before they were properly issued, not because of forgeries, but because the public don't want them. Mind you if the cost of the base metals used to create the forgeries, such as brass and lead, rise enough, then they aren't going to be used for forgeries.
Sometimes the best laid schemes of mice and men and all that ....
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| The Coin on the left is obviously a cruder version |
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| This suspicion is confirmed by poor text impression on rim |
These photos were taken from two coins I found out of the twelve in my pocket ..... Just check your pockets now .... but shh, remember its illegal to pass them off to anyone, and the banks don't exchange them for good coins.
PS: I took some £2 coins to the bank a couple of days after this post ... one was declared a forgery, and the bank took it off me with no compensation. So there you are.
