Monday, September 22, 2008
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Research has found that approximately two per cent of
British pound coins
in circulation are counterfeit, since the number of fake £1 coins has doubled in the past five years. This means approximately 30 million of these fake coins are currently in circulation.
File:Euro coins version II.png
Despite these large increases, the
Royal Mint
has claimed that these figures show "a comparatively low incidence of counterfeit coins by international monetary standards." Other people, however, disagree with the mint's assessment.
Robert Matthews, a coin consultant who was formerly the Queen's Assay master expressed his disagreement with the opinion of the Royal Mint to
BBC News Online
. "In 2004, people started refusing to take the South African 5 Rand coin, due to concerns about the number of counterfeits, and eventually the coin had to be redesigned and re-circulated," he pointed out. "Independent surveys showed the number of counterfeits to be 2% - the same as we've got here - and I'm worried that if we're not careful the same thing will happen to the pound coin."
It is illegal to make or use counterfeited coins, according to the Royal Mint, who said that all people who believe they are in possession of a fake must hand it in.
In comparison, the
Euro
has been estimated as having less than 0.1% counterfeit coins among the circulation of 50c, €1 and €2 coins.
Sources
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This page is
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Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.
Got a correction? Add the template {{
editprotected
}} to the
talk page
along with your corrections, and it will be
brought to the attention of
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administrators
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Please note that due to our
archival policy
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Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
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