Fruit Machine Chat

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7628137.stm

They ought to have sampled SWP players for their views...

i must say that is a conservative estimate. i'd go nearer 7 or 8%.
the money of the realm is an obsession of mine so i routinely examine currency.
i have only just noticed the orange flecks on the new £20. that made my day

Istenem wrote:i must say that is a conservative estimate. i'd go nearer 7 or 8%.
the money of the realm is an obsession of mine so i routinely examine currency.
i have only just noticed the orange flecks on the new £20. that made my day

I thought it looked an under-estimate as well: I don't study coinage particularly keenly but those who do have always suggested a figure nearer the mark you suggest.

Certainly haven't encountered this myself. I've got a few thousand in a sack at home and none are fakes.

Having said that, they did all come out of machines...............

Istenem wrote:i must say that is a conservative estimate. i'd go nearer 7 or 8%.
the money of the realm is an obsession of mine so i routinely examine currency.

Do you really think that out of every 100 coins that pass through your hands that 8 are fake?

I generally hold onto my fake coins (I have no idea why, some sort of OCD when it comes to coins) and have built up quite a collection (about 200 at the last count). If your figure of 8% is correct that would mean only about £2,500 had passed through my fingers. Even allowing for the fact that that a lower percentage of fakes will be accepted by machines, this is way too low (i.e. percentage is way too high).

Don't know what I'm going to do with them, though. I have considered playing them through a gambler in a bar that's pissed me off, but as it's a criminal offence and with CCTV in every bar I don't think it's worth it.

Many years ago, a friend of mine was wrapping 10p's in silver foil so that they registered as 50p's. He wasn't very successful but did manage to get one into a TQG (there's an acronym for you to decipher) at the local bowling alley. Needless to say, I got it back about six months later!

So if I do put them back in the machine, it is only likely to delay the problem, rather than solve it.

QuizMaster wrote:Certainly haven't encountered this myself. I've got a few thousand in a sack at home and none are fakes.

Having said that, they did all come out of machines...............

I'd be surprised if none of them were fake. Have you checked them in any great detail?

i handle money all day long, more coin goes through my hands than almost any player i would say,i estimate 10-20 fake one pound coins out of xx thousand through my hands every week ,i am not talking about lead slugs either ,these are quite rare nowadays ,i am on about coins of a slightly darker shade with a poor edge,not always dead centre and many have a bridge on the tails side, i just take them without a fuss (try telling a bloke his pound is a snide ,he looks at you really confused )i try and put them in bags for banking ,and the bank puts them back on the street

and they make that horrible flat noise when you clink 'em with a proper coin.

You can hear a fake before you see one.


JG.


Cheers.



Istenem's guestimate seems a tad high to me as well.

mr lugsy wrote:i handle money all day long, more coin goes through my hands than almost any player

kudos to Lugsy for using the correct plural of coin. proper reply will follow if i ever sober up. i love this sort of thing.

kudos gleefully snatched

JG wrote:and they make that horrible flat noise when you clink 'em with a proper coin.

You can hear a fake before you see one.


JG.


Cheers.



Istenem's guestimate seems a tad high to me as well.

Definately. You know you have a dud the second you catch it in the tray, just don't sound right.

Istenem wrote:

mr lugsy wrote:i handle money all day long, more coin goes through my hands than almost any player

kudos to Lugsy for using the correct plural of coin. proper reply will follow if i ever sober up. i love this sort of thing.

Are you sure? For example:

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/coin

And what did Frank Sinatra sing about a certain fountain...?

it depends. 'coins' is an accepted plural if they are countable (e.g. the coins in your pocket). but in terms of a mass noun, 'coin' is correct (e.g. the coin of the Realm (or Lugsy's)). the second is equivalent to the word 'money' which you'd never pluralise unless you were being deliberately twee. coinages would be allowed by the soup wordlist but that is a very bad example because of neologisms etc.

anyway. many counterfeit pound coins are really not very sophisticated, in addition to the previous comments about hue, weight, sound, composition etc. many have the wrong pairing of obverse and reverse, even the wrong portrait for the relevant year or the wrong words on the milling. (inevitably carved by a ham-fist.)

it does seem that the recent bridge designs have been easier to counterfeit, hence them being withdrawn after only one round (the previous designs lasted 20 years). this is largely because the milling around the edge (which is notoriously tricky to fake) was simplistic using wavy lines instead of lettering. you are probably all aware that we'll be getting a new design this year once the mint has flogged their money-spinning proof sets with the old Royal arms. this will revert to the DECUS ET TUTAMEN wording and the staff will return. the staff (little cross before the wording) was absent from the edge of the bridge designs despite being one of the more solid security devices of the coin.
there is also a "dead pixel" but i can't see how that is much use once in circulation.

one of my favourite things about the pound coin is the DECUS ET TUTAMEN script. these words have been used on our metal currency for many years and, rather than any religious or patriotic message, it is a purely functional guarantee of worth. translated as AN ORNAMENT AND A SAFEGUARD, it dates back to when precious metals were used and coin clipping was common. if the ornamental safeguard could not be read entirely, the coin had been clipped and was therefore rendered worthless but more importantly the would-be buyer was identified as a criminal and given a smack-bottom.

Damn, I appear to have learnt several things whilst reading this thread.

Interesting thread. And it is quite correct that you can tell a dud easier by the sound it makes on contact with other material.

Also, a friend of mine often says that he'll be able to "come out when he's been paid his monies". It grates when I hear it, but is it correct?