Coin Replicas And Patterns (CRAP) on eBay
eBay seems to awash with so-called replica, restrike, and pattern coins, most of which are not what they are stated to be. eBay do not appear to care.
We have decided to start this page as a partial catalogue of these items. Unfortunately the title "Coin Replicas And Patterns" creates the acronym C.R.A.P., a word we would normally prefer to avoid, rather like most of the items it describes. Most of the items listed here should be described as "Imitation", "Fantasy", "Fake", or some other word or combination or words.

Rare Pattern Gold Sovereigns
Real, genuine, original, pattern gold sovereigns are indeed rare, and valuable. The crooks who inhabit eBay, sadly now apparently in a majority, realise they can easily fool the thousands (millions?) of stupid and greedy eBay buyers into parting with good money for stuff less valuable than old rope.
What is usually on offer is one of a set of small silver medallions, issued by the grandly titled "Danbury Mint", which were sold as "Our Royal Sovereigns", 70 British Monarchs Commemorated in Gold Plated Silver Medallions. You can find details of them on our original website by following the link above. Naturally, we offer them as what they are, and describe them honestly.
There was also another similar set of medallions, issued by John Pinches, later part of "The Franklin Mint", issued in gold.

eBay Conmen Fraudsters and Hucksters
The original medal or medallion collections were sold in a reasonably responsible and ethical manner by medallists such as John Pinches, Danbury Mint, Franklin Mint, and others. Recently, many small-minded, small-time dealers have realised that it's quite easy to fool eBay buyers into paying relatively high prices for junk, by making a great pretence that what they are selling is some kind of valuable rarity.
Phineas T. Barnum would have said "There's a sucker born every minute". Actually Barnum was a great showbusiness personality living in the great USA, who knew more than a few tricks to publicise his circus. He would have been astounded at the global market opened up by the internet, and probably would have revised his famous quote to "There's a sucker born every second".

A Few Examples

Vendor ID	Item Title	Category Listed	Brief Description	Price
movecamp olde worlde enterprises	EADMUND I PATTERN SOVEREIGN GOLD PLATED STERLING SILVER	Coins : Bullion Bars : Gold Bullion	PLEASE JUDGE THE GRADE FOR YOURSELF THERE ARE SOME HALLMARKS ON THE RIM.GOLD PLATED STERLING SILVER	£19.50
movecamp olde worlde enterprises	JAMES 1st PATTERN SOVEREIGN GOLD PLATED STERLING SILVER	Coins : Bullion Bars : Gold Bullion	PLEASE JUDGE THE GRADE FOR YOURSELF THERE ARE SOME HALLMARKS ON THE RIM.GOLD PLATED STERLING SILVER	£19.50
trafalgar-bay	EXT RARE GEORGE V 1910-1936 PATTERN ROYAL 'SOVEREIGN'	Coins: Coins: British: George V (1910-1936): Sovereign	Extremely Rare George V 1910-1936 Royal Pattern 'Sovereign' issued by the College of Arms Trust and struck in 22ct Gold plated on sterling silver by the Danbury Mint - a magnificent example in choice proof condition	£1
trafalgar-bay	EXT RARE VICTORIA 1837-1901 PATTERN ROYAL 'SOVEREIGN'	Coins: Coins: British: Victoria (1837-1901): Sovereign	Extremely Rare Victoria 1837-1901 Royal Pattern 'Sovereign' issued by the College of Arms Trust and struck in 22ct Gold plated on sterling silver by the Danbury Mint - a magnificent example in choice proof condition	£1
cavendish_collectables	VICTORIAN GOTHIC PATTERN BRITANNIA GOLD SOVEREIGN	Coins: Coins: British: Elizabeth II (1953-c.1971): Sovereign	GREAT BRITAIN - Victoria, sovereign-sized Pattern Gold Trade Dollar, privately minted pattern in high-grade gold. Features the fabulous Gothic Head of Victoria and on the reverse the familiar Britannia standing as featured on early British Trade Dollars, same diameter as a sovereign and weighs 6 grams, so is slightly thinner than a sovereign. Tremendous way of including a Gothic portrait in gold in your collection. Believed to have a tiny mintage, a must for all sovereign collectors	£60
thelondoncoincompany Ingram Lieberman	1819 GEORGE III PATTERN GOLD PROOF FULL SOVEREIGN RARE	Coins: Coins: British: Milled (1816-1837): Sovereign	EXTREMELY RARE 1819 UNITED KINGDOM GEORGE III LAUR HEAD ST GEORGE & THE DRAGON SOLID 22K GOLD PROOF PATTERN RE-STRIKE FULL SOVEREIGN COIN HALLMARKED IN MINT CONDITION!! ORIGINAL MINT BOX WITH CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY VERY RARE & COLLECTABLE LIMITED ISSUE ITEM 201 OF 250!!	£699.95
uk_ta	1819 George III Gold Sovereign FDC. Very rare 250 made.	Coins: Coins: British: Milled (1816-1837): Sovereign Coins: Coins: British: Proof Sets/ Coins: Pre-1970	This 22ct gold full sovereign has been made to the exact specifications as the original George III sovereign by the famous Pobjoy Mint. It has been made to the exact standards of the original sovereign 7.98 grams and 22mm in diameter and solid 22ct gold in proof quality. This is a very rare coin only a 250 limited edition. This is number 44. Comes in its original high quality Pobjoy box together with its certificate of authenticity. For sale else where on eBay for £800.	£690

Our Royal Sovereigns
From our other site, we note that each medallion is 21.6 mms in diameter, and contains about 4.38 grams of gold plated Hallmarked Sterling Silver, so the whole set of 70 only contains just over 9 troy ounces of fine silver. As we write this, the intrinsic content of each medallion would be about £1. Normally, if we sold this set for double its metal content, we would think we had overcharged the buyer!

John Pinches Miniatures Kings & Queens of England
We have now photographed all of the medallions in this set, and have created a web page for them, and we do not have the specifications handy. Each weighs just over 3 grams, making a total of 131 grams for the set, and the fine gold content is 0.09 troy ounces each, or 3.86 ounces for the whole set.

1819 George III Gold Pattern Sovereign by Pobjoy
We have no doubt that Pobjoy sold these honestly and ethically for what they were. This does not stop secondary market dealers trying to rip people off by purporting that they are some kind of rarity.
Although we have little respect for Ingram Lieberman and his so-called London Coin Company, at least he does state it to be a "Pattern Restrike", which although still misleading, might at least alert the less stupid buyers. Uk_ta, on the other hand, incidentally yet another eBay copyright thief, describes it in his item title as a proof full sovereign, only in the detailed description does he allude to it as "restrike" (a euphemism for fake).

Not More!
As we got to this point writing this page, we checked on eBay (UK) by searching for "1819 sovereign". and found 7 listing for the same crap, all asking greedy and extortionate prices, all giving misleading descriptions, all con merchants in our opinion. If and when we find time, we may add a page specifically about these fantasy replica coins. At present suffice it to say that, if their specification is similar to a real sovereign, their gold content is about £150 each, and as for the "Royal Sovereigns", we would think we had overcharged somebody if we sold them one of these medallic replicas for double the intrinsic value, a "fair" valuation might be about £200.

Our Advice
Avoid all this stuff like the plague, and the people who sell it, and the people who allow them to sell it (eBay), unless you really want it, know what you are buying, and only pay a sensible price for it.

Corollary or Side Effect
One side effect we have noticed because of the abundance of misleading titles and phony descriptions, is that genuine sellers with a real coin find it necessary to add to their title "Genuine Original, Not Copy" or some similar wording. A sad endictment of eBay!

Kings and Queens of England Miniature Gold Medals by John Pinches
The gold medallion images shown on this page are from a "Kings and queens of England miniature gold medal collection" by John Pinches.

Replicas
A replica is an imitation of an original coin, not intended to deceive for gain.

eBay Copyright Abuse
A small selection of crooked eBay vendors and their dishonest listings using our high quality coin photographs.

eBay Index
More about eBay, most of it bad!