1919-L London Mint Fake Gold Sovereign - Non Existent Date Mintmark Combination

[LawrenceChard]

1919-L London Mint Fake Gold Sovereign - Non Existent Date Mintmark Combination

I recently posted a new topic / thread about a genuine 1919-P sovereign 

which had some interesting features.

Yesterday I encountered a 1919-L fake sovereign, which was easy to detect visually as an obvious counterfeit.

Obverse:

Niton test results:

The obverse reading for gold was too low at 90.2%, but the reverse was too high at 93.2%

The differential between the two readings is itself significant, as it suggests imperfect mixing of the alloy, which would almost certainly never happen with genuine coins.

The silver content was also suspiciously low, as most sovereigns of this period would have about 0.3% to 0.4% silver content.

😎

 

[James32]

Still available?

[LawrenceChard]

7 minutes ago, James32 said:

Still available?

Haven't scrapped it yet!

😎

[dicker]

The Blind Man could tell probably applies here given the graininess of the relief.

The two 9’s of the date are also curiously inconsistent!  Perhaps a die or casting was made with 191 and later dies cast with a final date number?

[SidS]

So Lawrence, what's closer to the original definition of crown gold, this or modern bullion sovereigns? At least this contains silver.

[RDHC]

Thank you. Keep these educational pieces coming. I wonder how you acquired it or is it one from the vaults?

[dicker]

1 hour ago, RDHC said:

Thank you. Keep these educational pieces coming. I wonder how you acquired it or is it one from the vaults?

I would be surprised if @LawrenceChard had this “sleeping” in the vault.  My guess is it was a walk in!

[Foster88]

4 hours ago, dicker said:

I would be surprised if @LawrenceChard had this “sleeping” in the vault.  My guess is it was a walk in!

Most likely a walk in and a walk straight back out, sovereign in hand.