Do you think this is an Evasion ?

[dooly]

Hi all

 

what do you thing of this 6.6g coin could it be an Evasion coin and could the countermark be C for counterfit ?

 

 

all the best dooly

[SkyMan]

What is an evasion coin? Thanks.

[physics-fan3.14]

What is an evasion coin? Thanks.

 

I was just going to ask this. Fill us poor blighters in, Dooly.

[TomB]

Evasion tokens are counterfeits that used a loophole in the Royal laws that defined a counterfeit as a non-governmental sourced piece that was made to look exactly like a Royal issue. However, if folks changed the legends so that they did not match a real coin then they could argue that the piece was a token and not a counterfeit coin. In truth, they were made to pass off as counterfeits.

[rbrown4]

Dooley definitely knows more on this than I. It is my understanding that Evasion Coins or Issues were made in England and America at the same time a lot of counterfieiting of Copper Coins was going on. Evasion coins are not meant to be exact copies of a coin but to "look as much like" the original. Changing spelling, reversing Bust direction, etc. Since they were not making exact copies of real coinage the producers of these could,nt be charged with counterfeiting.

 

I am guessing that is where the term Evasion came from since they were evading criminal consequences?

 

In the Red Book there is a section on Imitation British Half Pence with one group being the "Georgivs/Britannia, Machen's Mill Copper Half Penny" It identifies three goups of American Made British Half Pence, which was the most common coin for small transactions during that time. The coin you show Dooley looks like what the Red Book shows as Group II. One of the identifiers are triangular denticles around the rim apparently.

 

No matter what it ends up being, I like the coin, real counterfit or evasive.

 

Rey

[PerryHall]

Evasion tokens are counterfeits that used a loophole in the Royal laws that defined a counterfeit as a non-governmental sourced piece that was made to look exactly like a Royal issue. However, if folks changed the legends so that they did not match a real coin then they could argue that the piece was a token and not a counterfeit coin. In truth, they were made to pass off as counterfeits.

 

And the reason they could be passed is that most people back then were illiterate.

[Conder101]

I don't believe this is an evasive since both the inscriptions and devices appear to be proper. I can have difficulty telling the regal issues from the counterfeits though since there can be a fair amount of variability in the details of the genuine coins. The key though is the weight given for the coin. At 6.6 grams it is way below the legal weight standards used by the Tower Mint for half pence (Legal weight was I believe 48 to the pound or 9.4 grams) and too heavy for a farthing (4.7 grams). Since it was the reduced weight of copper in their coin that provided the profit for the counterfeiters I would say that this is a "Non-Regal" issue. And in that case the C could very well be the result of someone marking it as a counterfeit.

 

I checked Cobwright and he does not list any 1775 dated evasives with the GEORGIVS III REX obv.