# Counterfeit coins **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 25, 2005, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterfeit-coins/318538 "2005-08-25T06:59:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterfeit-coins/318538/1 "2005-08-25T06:59:41Z")
A coworker of mine says that some people are trying to use counterfeit coins in some of our vending machines (they get rejected and left behind.) I was told that the coins are the shape of a quarter, have some of the wording of a quarter and a picture of George Washington on it, but are obviously fake when looking at them. So, what would could these possibly be? It can’t possibly be cost effective to make phony quarters? And if vending machines reject them what could they be good for? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterfeit-coins/318538/2 "2005-08-25T07:27:22Z")
My guess is the forger would be trying to use them in low-tech machines where only the mechanical shape of the coin is necessary to make it work - gum ball machine-type coin mechs. I can’t imagine why anyone would bother forging such small denominations, but I’ve seen forged coins in the UK too - admittedly they were higher face values than your quarters - in this case they were pound coins that had been cast from lead/solder or something similar, then spraypainted gold. I received about three of them, each on separate occasions, during my stint as church treasurer (I’m sure the persons putting them in the offering bag were not aware of their forged status) and I’ve had one just turn up in loose change that I didn’t check carefully enough. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterfeit-coins/318538/3 "2005-08-25T11:30:11Z")
Educated guess. As you might know, I’m a coin dealer. I’ve recently seen in our purchases from the public some copies of washington quarters that are realistic looking but not real quarters. They don’t SAY 25cents on them. They are legal reproductions made by private copanies and packaged and sold as part of sets of coins that are pumped into the public by newspaper ads and tv sales of overpriced crap. They sometimes get into change when a teenager steals coins from his parents/grandparents collection. Ask if they have a denomination on them. ---
**Author:** ![JerH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bb73d2/32.png) [@JerH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerH)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterfeit-coins/318538/4 "2005-08-25T13:41:42Z")
I don’t know about having Washington’s face & such on them - but I’ve known of people who worked in metal shops who were able to punch out hunks of metal in the size/shape of quarters - they didn’t work in most places, but some machines (such as laundry machines) took them. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterfeit-coins/318538/5 "2005-08-25T14:11:43Z")
Odd note–in the 1960’s, my father was given a phoney 50 Cent piece (American) with Martin Luther King’s face on it. It’s obviously got no silver in it, as time has dulled the finish. Clearly created for a political purpose. Obtained in the Chicago area. Anybody know about these? No coin dealer I ever met knows anything about them. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterfeit-coins/318538/6 "2005-08-25T16:32:18Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > They don’t SAY 25cents on them. . Minor nitpick…surely you of all people know that if they did say “25 cents” _that_ would be highly suspicious. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterfeit-coins/318538/7 "2005-08-25T16:59:06Z")
I believe the coins said “one quarter” on them. Are they being used to fool people who are new to the U.S. when they get change somewhere. If so, this definitely seems to “the short con” to the extreme. ---
**Author:** ![Big\_Whistle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Big\_Whistle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Whistle)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterfeit-coins/318538/8 "2005-08-25T20:57:13Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Educated guess. As you might know, I’m a coin dealer. I’ve recently seen in our purchases from the public some copies of washington quarters that are realistic looking but not real quarters. They don’t SAY 25cents on them. They are legal reproductions made by private copanies and packaged and sold as part of sets of coins that are pumped into the public by newspaper ads and tv sales of overpriced crap. They sometimes get into change when a teenager steals coins from his parents/grandparents collection. > > Ask if they have a denomination on them. Speaking of coins, samclem, and Ohio, any comment on the current scandal? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterfeit-coins/318538/9 "2005-08-25T21:11:46Z")
There was a scam uncovered fairly recently in London, where criminal gangs were shipping in loads of a particular almost-worthless coin from Swaziland, which the Underground ticket machines recognised as a one pound coin. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterfeit-coins/318538/10 "2005-08-25T22:40:55Z")
One objective in counterfeiting quarters might be to put piles of them into Coinstar machines. I imagine that if you could match the composition and structure of the genuine coin, you could fool the machine into accepting it. Once you’d reached that point, if you had the ability to easily manufacture these slugs you could distribute them carefully into Coinstars at various locations, taking care not to visit the same one twice. It could be quite a racket. **GorillaMan** , what was the point of the counterfeit pound coins? Did the forgers try to spend them openly, or rather use them in a vending machine? I’ve heard that CoinSTar was going to expand to your country, but I’m not sure why they would want to do that. CoinStar has a market in this country because our coins are all practically worthless, and you need a sackful to to buy anything significant, but over there you got 1- and 2-pound coins that I should think can still buy quite a bit. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterfeit-coins/318538/11 "2005-08-25T22:49:36Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > **GorillaMan** , what was the point of the counterfeit pound coins? Did the forgers try to spend them openly, or rather use them in a vending machine? They had two options - one was to sell a bagful of the coins for a few pounds (which AFAIK would be legal). The other was to use them to buy a day travelcard, which they could sell on the street outside the station for less than face value (not legal, in several ways). ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterfeit-coins/318538/12 "2005-08-25T23:03:06Z")
The older type of parking meters here (now entirely replaced) used to take the large British 2p piece, mistaking it for a Canadian $1.00 coin. Or so I have been told. ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counterfeit-coins/318538/13 "2005-08-25T23:28:05Z")
When I got home from a Med cruise (US Navy), the sixties, I had a box full of coins from Spain, Italy, Greece, etc. I put them in parking meters all over NY City. :eek: 😃