Congo Free State 5 Cent. Fake/Counterfeit Or Manufacturing Error?

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Author	Replies: 8 / Views: 691
GUSpaceCadet New Member United Kingdom 3 Posts	Posted 12/07/2025 12:40 pm Hi, First post I recently inherited a coin collection. A lot of the coins are run of the mill (according to valuation by CoinSnap app) but there are a few exceptions. One is this one below. The date stamp is mangled but I'm wondering if this is a counterfeit or a defect coin? Any help on putting a value to it would be super appreciated. Kind Regards GU SpaceCadet Report this Post to the Staff

Sap Moderator Australia 16806 Posts	Posted 12/07/2025 5:19 pm I would assume the coin was genuine, but had been through a fire, causing the overall damage we can see. The black stuff attached to it (and filling the hole) would be debris from other objects melted in the fire. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis Report this Post to the Staff
Pertinax Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 2133 Posts	Posted 12/07/2025 8:32 pm Welcome to the Forum! You can learn a lot here. I realise that Sap is a lot more knowledgeable than I, however is he right in this case? This should be a 5 centimes coin dated 1906 or 1908 and it should be made of cupro-nickel. It doesn't look like cupro-nickel to me, it looks more like a lead alloy, and I suspect it's a cast counterfeit. The weight, and diameter of the coin would be useful. I'd like Aernout's opinion. Edited by Pertinax 12/07/2025 8:34 pm Report this Post to the Staff
GUSpaceCadet New Member United Kingdom 3 Posts	Posted 12/08/2025 02:26 am Hi Sap & Pertinax, The diameter is 19mm and the coin is about 3g (sorry only had a crude kitchen scale. The images I agree look a bit greyish so I took the photos again (images a bit blurry but gets the colour better. I assume it was the angle of the lighting. Hope this helps. Report this Post to the Staff
jecz79 Pillar of the Community Portugal 655 Posts	Posted 12/08/2025 10:23 am I shun the coins of Leopold II but saw enough to know that no one would fake those 5 centimes. It is a cheap nickel. So a cast fake is ruled out. I think there was a brass rivet at the center and something welded to the top. It was used as part of some decorative piece. Perhaps an improvised decoration. That metal was weaker than nickel and is now melted, banged and corroded to bits while the nickel coin mostly survived. Has been in some disaster. Knowing congolese history this leaves things to the imagination that are not nice. I would get rid of that piece. Report this Post to the Staff
jbuck Moderator United States 187557 Posts	Posted 12/08/2025 10:34 am to the Community! Coin Collector Since 1978 Avatar Old Avatar 7070 Eisenhower Australia Canada World CCF Members on eBay CCF eBay Search Engine Report this Post to the Staff
GUSpaceCadet New Member United Kingdom 3 Posts	Posted 12/08/2025 11:44 am Hi jecz79, Thank you for the insight. I hadn't actually looked up the history of Leopold II until your post and your insight of making it into a decorative piece followed by a disaster of some sorts got me thinking and reflecting. A very cruel moment in history. Kind Regards GUSpaceCadet Report this Post to the Staff
jecz79 Pillar of the Community Portugal 655 Posts	Posted 12/09/2025 1:37 pm It remains an historical piece. I do not condemn any coin collecting just because of the history of a type. Just do not feel personally comfortable with some and avoid them when out of my main focus. If you collect congolese coins it makes sense to keep that one. No way to know what happened but it has more history than any loose coin. I have a part molten coin from 1755, the date of the Lisbon earthquake. Must have been in one of the fires that destroyed much of the city. Acquired that instead of an intact one because of the damage that places it then and there. Extra history. Report this Post to the Staff
IndianGoldEagle Bedrock of the Community United States 36461 Posts	Posted 12/12/2025 12:44 pm Looks like damage. Report this Post to the Staff
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Congo Free State 5 Cent. Counterfeit Or Manufacturing Error?