One of these things is not like the others!

I was scrounging through loose change today, looking for laundry money, when I ran across a £1 coin that stood out a bit, with a completely different texture, weight and color from the others in the pile.  Upon closer inspection I saw that, though it was dated 2000, it was more scuffed then several older coins and it was also wider by a hair’s-breadth.  Fairly certain now that I was dealing with a fake, I flipped it on edge to check out the inscription.  And what a typographical travesty awaited me!

Yep, the one on the top is the counterfeit.  What with the poor spacing and the total lack of serifs on a hideous, evil typeface. If you could even call it a proper typeface, as the letters are wildly inconsistent.  Seriously, scammers, come on.  How can society be expected to function with such ugly text scattered willy-nilly?

Anyway, I did do some internet research to make sure that it was a true fake and not just a really bad day at the mint.  There are several common, easy to spot errors among counterfeit pounds (most of which my coin gets correct: they did include the cross in the inscription, and the alignment of the two sides is spot-on).  One of the best ways to tell is by making sure that the reverse image and the inscription match up.  This ostensibly being a year 2000 Welsh dragon design, the inscription actually should have been the Welsh PLEIDIOL WYF I’M GWLAD, rather than the Latin DECUS ET TUTAMEN.

According to the BBC, 1 in 50 of these coins are now fakes.  If you find one you’re supposed to turn it in, but I think I’ll keep mine as a souvenir (a souvenir which cost me approximately $1.70).  And whenever I look at it I will silently thank the people who spend their lives designing attractive typefaces.

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