Counterfeit 1788 Mexico 8R With George III C/S

Pistareen Most counterfeit collectors would refer to it as a "Birmingham" type coin. We have discussed the subject several times, but to cover the high points.

The 8R you have appears to be a Sheffield Plate variety. The Sheffield Plating process was developed in England around 1770. The process involves rolling a three metal sandwich (2 silver layers that are 900 fine on the outside and copper or some other base metal as the center) under high pressure and causing the three layers to bond. They start with small ingots and roll the material to the desired thickness before cutting it into round blanks.

This method of producing planchets allowed a proper color metal to be struck with forged dies. But the silver content was minimal. It was a huge improvement over the cast or struck debased silver coins of the era immediately preceding. It was not replaced as the counterfeiters metal of choice until about 1840 when first German Silver and then Electroplating were introduced.

The Birmingham emission (the high quality copies) started as a war effort in the 1796 when England and Spain were at War, once again. At that time several different date Portrait 8Rs were forged with the approval or at least tacit approval of the English Crown. These coins were shipped to the orient to attempt to destabilize the Spanish trade but the effort failed. The Chinese adopted the practice of Chopping coins precisely to identify this type of fake.

The dies were however EXCELLENT copies and they were NOT destroyed. The Birmingham craftsmen KEPT THEM.

The war with Spain ultimately caused a silver shortage for England because the Spanish Colonies were the primary source for silver world wide. This caused a financial emergency in England, leading to the restamping of old 8Rs with the punch in question. This happened about 1804. The restamped coins were stamped with a HIGHER than silver value so that they would not be hoarded. They were a Token coinage.

At some point in the emergency some of the Birmingham firms brought out their old 8R dies and made a fake punch of George. These coins PROLIFERATED because of the monetary shortage. Other forgers making lower quality copies joined in. It finally resulted in an Act of Parliament finally making counterfeiting of Foreign coins illegal. Intrinsic full value coins were never seen in circulation in this period and the worn, clipped and counterfeit specie acted as a Token currency for most Poor English citizens.

From my understanding of the way things worked, the English banks and merchants pulled many of the good fakes out of circulation but instead of destroying them - they were dumped on the various colonies for their use. I suspect that is how your coin got to Canada ca. 1812. I read a story someplace in an old Numismatist that the coinage in circulation in Canada at one time exceeded 50% counterfeit. I am working only from memory (my back issues of the Numismatist are still packed) but the fact that HALF of the money in circulation was fake has stuck in my memory.

To a lesser extent the same thing happened in the US colonies. Money (silver and gold) was in SHORT SUPPLY and counterfeits often filled a void of sorts.

So to summarize a very long answer - Based on the limited detail I can see in the picture - your forgery was made in England (possibly Birmingham) shortly after 1804.