If the coin bears the title of George III, it must be from 1760-1801. --just my guess!
Posted 03/04/2008 5:49 pm
G'day, it's a gaming token, made to resemble a G3 guineau.
It's brass, or similar, which has a golden appearance.
Counterfeiting carried the death penalty upto the 1830s, so manufacturers of these tokens incorporated several small differences, in order to be able to say that the token was NOT a "passable imitation" of the genuine coin.
The date, 1701, is commonly seen: it was well before G3 was born, let alone acceded.
You will find if you compare the rest of the legend with the real thing, that there are a couple of differences.
Value: a few pounds.
That said, I saw one of these "in the 'Bay" two years ago, but advertized as if it were the real thing "1701 G3 guineau - looks like gold" etc; with a start price of GBP 200 - high, even for a genuine guineau. I pointed at to the seller what it was. There were zero bids at that time. She replied that "she didn't know how to change the listing", and would let it run it's course. Some clever sniper jumped in at the close, and "won" this token - at 100 times its real value.
Of course, The 'Bay prohibits another buyer contacting him to point out the truth of his situation.
With gold going up, the purchaser will go to a dealer to cash in his investment, and emerge red-faced: fury ... embarrassment .... or perhaps, furious embarrassment.
There are plenty of these around, so I infer that "gaming" was big back in the G3 era.
Peter in Oz
It's brass, or similar, which has a golden appearance.
Counterfeiting carried the death penalty upto the 1830s, so manufacturers of these tokens incorporated several small differences, in order to be able to say that the token was NOT a "passable imitation" of the genuine coin.
The date, 1701, is commonly seen: it was well before G3 was born, let alone acceded.
You will find if you compare the rest of the legend with the real thing, that there are a couple of differences.
Value: a few pounds.
That said, I saw one of these "in the 'Bay" two years ago, but advertized as if it were the real thing "1701 G3 guineau - looks like gold" etc; with a start price of GBP 200 - high, even for a genuine guineau. I pointed at to the seller what it was. There were zero bids at that time. She replied that "she didn't know how to change the listing", and would let it run it's course. Some clever sniper jumped in at the close, and "won" this token - at 100 times its real value.
Of course, The 'Bay prohibits another buyer contacting him to point out the truth of his situation.
With gold going up, the purchaser will go to a dealer to cash in his investment, and emerge red-faced: fury ... embarrassment .... or perhaps, furious embarrassment.
There are plenty of these around, so I infer that "gaming" was big back in the G3 era.
Peter in Oz
