I've ended up with 2 Italian 5 Lire coins which I believe to be contemporary counterfeits... Noticed they did not have the edge lettering they were supposed to, am I correct?
I also don't think they are fake. Yes, there are edge letters for them but those letters were weakly engraved. I believe the edge letters had been worn out rather than "did not have the edge lettering" as you said, idmern.
Genuine examples are .835 fine silver, so if these are contemporary counterfeits, the composition ought to be at best debased. First thing I'd do is weigh them. If they come in at significantly less than 5 grams, then they'd likely be forgeries.
From the pictures they look like the genuine stuff, so have to agree with 'wonghinghi'. Just have a look with a 4x or stronger magnifying glass at the rim, the rim inscription can be very shallow and (nearly) worn away. Also, how do they sound? Btw, if they were contemporary counterfeits I would expect them to be cruder - and to make good quality counterfeits of them later wouldn't have been worth the effort.
That was the other thing I forgot to mention- both weighed in at 4g... Both of these have me baffled since they have little value above silver so they certainly would not seem to modern... When I get home I will check out the rim with a loupe
Quote: That was the other thing I forgot to mention- both weighed in at 4g
Was this taken with a scale that's graduated to at least tenths of a gram? If the scale reads just in whole grams (like a postal scale or the like), your measurement doesn't tell much. They could be as high as 4.9 grams and the scale will read "4" in the latter instance. But if you're using a jewelry type scale, 4.0 grams would be suspiciously light.
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