Mule, error strike, or fake?

Hello Colleagues and Friends!

I want to inform you that occasionally I got in my hands the 1 pound coin (from circulation it came from London) which is never reported and more to say - does not exist in this year in famous catalogue of Krause.

KM# 948 POUND
9.5000 g., Nickel-Brass, 22.5 mm. Ruler: Elizabeth II
Obv: Crowned head right  Obv. Designer: Raphael Maklouf
Rev: Oak tree, crown encircles  Rev. Designer: Leslie Durbin
Edge lettering: DECUS ET TUTAMEN

This coin I have in my hands has the year of strike 1995. Please can you clarify is it the rare mint error strike, mule, or this is false coin issued by some counterfeiter.
I add the photo of that coin. Sorry for quality



Krause catalogue does not report any mules of that coin in any type.

 I am almost sure it is a fake - I have one with the same reverse and mine is 1989 dated.

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces1392.html
That is the page for the Oak Tree reverse and was used for 1987 and 1992 coins - so neither your 1995 nor my 1989 date. Here is a mirror picture of mine, and an image of the bad edge lettering as that is the most obvious indication mine is a fake ...


Like it says on that page -
NOTE: counterfeits with different dates exist.
They can be determined easily by looking at the edge lettering

Problem is that my coin has perfect strike of edge ;)

Look at that. So edge strike and edge lettering does not allow to think it is fake.

I have also reported that to Royalmint.

 Also on the page it says
Orientation: Medal alignment ↑↑
 so when the obverse is vertical, is the reverse also vertical - which mine is almost. A lot of fakes have many alignments wrong and many degrees off correct. Like this fake 2000 coin ...


 Which though it has the correct reverse for the year, the alignment is maybe 30 degrees off (the reverse is upright but the portrait is leaning forward). Also again edge lettering is poor (and also incorrect - it has lettering DECUS ET TUTAMEN but should be PLEIDIOL WYF I'M GWLAD); yours looks alright though (in appearance, and is for the reverse image - but it should also be PLEIDIOL WYF I'M GWLAD to match the obverse date ).  

Interesting case obviously. Alignment is medal (so both vertical), edge lettering corresponds to real KM# type, strike of edge lettering is good (no suspicions).

So here is quite curious why the strike is so good for fake?    

Let see what RoyalMint will answer me.

By the way - what about this fake coins - how to deal with them?

spend them, 3% of all our pounds are fake.

no idea about pound coins, but i have found some stuff on google, maybe helps?

How do you spot a fake pound coin?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7628930.stm

http://www.larkinweb.co.uk/miscellany/counterfeit_one_pound_coins.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1298045/Every-pound-coin-UK-scrapped-36-fakes.html

Fake One Pound Coins
http://blog.alism.com/fake-one-pound-coins-part-one/
http://blog.alism.com/fake-one-pound-coins-part-two/
http://blog.alism.com/fake-one-pound-coins-part-three/

I just have a question as I have about 20 of these 1 pound coins, not the same as yours, different years etc. But why would people fake these? It seems very very tedious and not cost effective to do so? I have heard some are Silver though, could that be why, or is that wrong info and they are all non silver?

Barnabus at the moment the pound is worth more than Euro and Dollars, they forge them and sell them at exchange shops around Britain. clever scam.

Verweis : HippaforalkusBarnabus at the moment the pound is worth more than Euro and Dollars, they forge them and sell them at exchange shops around Britain. clever scam.

Yea I know this, but wouldn't the continuous die replacement, and materials make it not worth while? I mean I guess I could see someone that had a lot of capital to invest and could make these by the thousands before a Die would break might make out nicely, but idk even then, with material costs, I am assuming that you could not make these out of aluminum cans, or old rusty calipers? They would have to pass a general hand eye test. Such as 1. Identify coin, 2. Feel coin, 3. Exchange coin. I would think most people who have held one know around about the weight, and the look of it to an extent. I would assume that there are not rigorous tests done to them to verify legitimacy, but to me it seems very tedious unless you are doing this on a SUPER large scale.

They are not struck, they are usually cast - which is much easier.

Material costs for the real things are lower than their resulting value, and the cost of lead and spraypaint and a rickety set-up in some Dutch garage somewhere could run even cheaper. Remember that the British pound is worth like $1.60 USD, there's plenty of room in there to get a really fancy set-up when you can churn out tens of thousands.

Verweis : nalaberongThey are not struck, they are usually cast - which is much easier.

Material costs for the real things are lower than their resulting value, and the cost of lead and spraypaint and a rickety set-up in some Dutch garage somewhere could run even cheaper. Remember that the British pound is worth like $1.60 USD, there's plenty of room in there to get a really fancy set-up when you can churn out tens of thousands.

Is this an illegal practice there? I am not sure if counterfeiting is illegal everywhere?

As well, if these are cast, what about the sprue remnants?

And good god, Circulating lead, lol. Good time to not test by biting a coin!

Of course it's illegal, there have been plenty of crackdowns. But there are still so many being produced.

It might be kind of cultural - the Canadian loonie would be easier to cast (no edge letters to bother with!) and it's not worth that much less (plus it's accepted everywhere). Yet there's only been one major counterfeiting operation busted so far in Canada that I can remember and I haven't found any fakes in hundreds of dollars' worth of coins. Either the fakes are all really good fakes, or we just aren't as motivated as the British and their friends on the continent.

So I think it is better to left the coin in my collection as VERY GOOD FAKE cause it really has very good quality for fake, not even CAST but strike coin. I do not see any problems with this pound except of quite thin letters on obverse/reverse, but this might be the circulation usage damage.