Funny Looking King George Copper

[secondstar]

Cheffer, acojoe, a new buddy, and myself all went to our colonial honey hole this morning. I got a low but repeatable tone so I dig and out pops this KG copper.





I’m no expert, but is there any chance that this coin is counterfeit? My last KG rang much higher, and this coin just doesn’t appear to be copper in my opinion. Let me know what you guys think, the coin could not be picked up with a magnet, I don’t have a scale but could borrow one.

Mike

 

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[GB1]

looks fake but then again wait for the pros

 

[Acojoe]

Either way it was a great day

 

[mirage83]

Not an expert but that corrosion looks a little suspect, not something you usually see on a KG.

 

[Jeff H]

Cool find. Rather than being a counterfeit, it looks like a colonist with some free time on his hands hammered the edge of the coin. I like coppers with personality like that.

 

[Whyme]

I'd like it more if it was a counterfeit coin! But that's me. Nice find! Congrats!

 

[Underwonder]

Very possibly counterfeit. In any case, great find!
https://coins.nd.edu/colcoin/colcoinintros/CtfBrit.intro.html

 

[cheffer]

Fun day yesterday, I wish we had taken home more but that's how it goes with this hobby. When Mike brought his two coppers over for us to see, I immediately thought counterfeit. It just looked and felt a little wrong. Either way, nice retrieval Mike!

 

[CRUSADER]

Looks real to me.

 

[Rubka888]

I would scrape the edge to see if it reveals copper. Looks real to me. What does in ring in on out of the ground?

 

[secondstar]

Pictured below, you can see that the coin is roughly the same size as a US large cent.



The large cent rings up on the XP Deus at 92, the King George at 78. A wheat penny which is much smaller rings up at an 87. While I admittedly don’t know much about British coins, one would think that the copper mass alone would cause this coin to have a higher TID than 78. The tone is clean, no “crunch” whatsoever.

 

[washingtonian]

Sweet find regardless! Thanks for sharing.

 

[CRUSADER]

Pictured below, you can see that the coin is roughly the same size as a US large cent.

View attachment 1649449

The large cent rings up on the XP Deus at 92, the King George at 78. A wheat penny which is much smaller rings up at an 87. While I admittedly don’t know much about British coins, one would think that the copper mass alone would cause this coin to have a higher TID than 78. The tone is clean, no “crunch” whatsoever.

Most of my KG halfpennies ring up on the Deus at 80(ish), so no issues there.

 

[secondstar]

Thanks crusader! I don't have another halfpenny to compare it to so I really appreciate your input!

 

[xcopperstax]

From the appearance it looks like a standard KGII. From my experience the halfpennies always ring lower than Large cents. When I first found some of these I got a scale because I thought that weighing them could determine if they were counterfeit or not. It's really hard to say because the heavily worn coins have actually lost weight so they will always weigh less than one with more detail. During those times I think they estimated that there were more counterfeits in circulation than real coins. I do have one KGIII that has a good amount of detail yet is much thinner than others. I would say for sure that coin of mine is fake. In reference to the person who said the corrosion doesn't look right: I've seen corrosion on almost every KG coin I've dug. Best thing to do in my opinion is get it as clean as possible and take some long hard looks at it comparing certain points on the coin to pictures of real ones you can find on the web. Compare how far the lettering is from the bust. Its a great find either way! Congrats

 

[xcopperstax]

Also remember there is the "old head" and "young head" Disclaimer: I'm not one of the pro's.

 

[secondstar]

Update: Based on the advice of crusader, xcopperstax, and others I went ahead and gave the coin a good cleaning.





I now believe that the coin is authentic. Sorry for the wild goose chase, but we have a well documented history of counterfeiters in the Berkshires so I wanted to be cautious before cleaning. I am just as happy with my find nonetheless!

Mike

P.S. I even was able to determine the date, 1756!

 

[Hawks88]

I still like it either way. Congrats

 

[A2coins]

I think its real I think it might be banged up a little . Had a rough life Great find!!!!!

 

[CRUSADER]

Update: Based on the advice of crusader, xcopperstax, and others I went ahead and gave the coin a good cleaning.

View attachment 1649465

View attachment 1649466

I now believe that the coin is authentic. Sorry for the wild goose chase, but we have a well documented history of counterfeiters in the Berkshires so I wanted to be cautious before cleaning. I am just as happy with my find nonetheless!

Mike

P.S. I even was able to determine the date, 1756!

There is one other big give-a-way, KGII counterfeits are very rare (Statistically) & very obvious in appearance.