goldguinea Selling Replica Sovereigns on eBay as Restrikes eBay member goldguinea was offering an 1818 and 1819 imitation sovereign each misleadingly described as a Pobjoy Gold Sovereign.

Rip-Off Prices Most eBay sellers ask what we consider to be ridiculously high prices for these replicas. Perhaps they genuinely believe that the low mintage figures actually make them rare or valuable. Whenever we acquire similar items, we try to describe them accurately, and also ask what we believe are sensible and realistic prices for them. Even then, this sort of stuff hardly ever flies off our shelves!

Misleading Descriptions
Only somebody with the experience and knowledge to know that Pobjoy did not make sovereigns in 1819, would get a clue from this item title that all was not as claimed.
The sub-heading in the description does state it to be a restrike, and there is some slight excuse for this as Pobjoy Mint provided certificates including the word re-strike.
These are not restrikes however, but imitations or replicas. If they were exact copies and restrikes of the original, they would constitute forgeries, and Pobjoy would have committed serious criminal offences by possessing and using the dies, and making counterfeit sovereigns.
This is still no excuse for anybody with any pretence to be a serious, honest, ethical dealer. Putting the word restrike in inverted commas would help slightly, but there in our opinion, should be a clear and unequivocal statement that these are unofficial replicas, and not restrikes. It should also state that they are merely medallions, and not coins or sovereigns. Failure to do so leads us to believe this dealer is trying to mislead his potential customers.
We believe the numismatic trade should upheld the highest ethical standards, not the lowest ones.
A further part of the description states that "this 22ct gold full sovereign has been made to the exact specifications...", but also states the weight to be 7.98 grams. The certificates we have seen state the weight at 8 grams, and the correct specifications for a sovereign are actually 9.881 grams. The originals were not proofs.
An ordinary, non-expert, person reading the seller's description would probably be lead to believe that it was in fact a sovereign. No only is this untrue, but the item is not even a coin, yet this is clearly stated in a number of places to be a coin:

• ...the coin for sale here was made just six years after this.
• This is a very rare coin...
• The pictures below are taken through the coins (sic) plastic capsule, the coin itself is perfect FDC
• In addition, it is listed under two separate categories, both being Coins...
• Other Coins Available in my eBay Shop

ENRB Member?
We noticed this eBay member had an ENRB logo in his listing, which claims "Integrity & Confidence in Numismatics
The eBay Groups ENRB page states:
Welcome to ebay (sic) Numismatic Seller Registration Board
The purpose of this group is to establish a set of standards for eBay coin sellers to meet, and then to certify all eBay coin dealers who wish to be certified by us, and comply to (sic) the standards for certification.
The ENRB "Charter" includes:
8. All registered dealers must agree to never knowingly misrepresent any coin/bullion/exonumia they sell on eBay.
17. Registered sellers if selling copies reproductions or alterations, will mention in the lot title and body that it is a copy alteration reproduction forgery or similar widely understandable terms. For example if the term "fantasy" is used, it should read modern or recent fantasy if modern or recent. In the case the buyer is not a native speaker of the language used in the description, unless it was sold in the reproductions category, the buyer will be emailed (sic) before shipping, to confirm they understood the item was not an authentic / unaltered item. In case they did not understand, the sale will be canceled (sic) on the sellers (sic) initiative.
When we looked at the members list for the ENRB, goldguinea were not included! (Source: http://groups.ebay.com/forum/Ebay-Numismatic-Seller/Home/300013803)

Pattern Sovereigns on eBay - Fools Gold
Every month another eBay crook (member) seems to have the bright idea of conning mugs and punters into buying these silver medallions as "Pattern Gold Sovereigns".

GoldGuinea.Co.UK We had already noticed a website goldguinea.co.uk which was using at least one of our high quality copyright images without our permission, but it appears to be registered to an individual in Belize.

Other Copyright Abuse

Buying Gold Coins & Bars on eBay

Selling Gold Coins & Bars on eBay

Copyright Thieves on eBay We already have a page naming and shaming dealers using our images without permission. It's time we did the same for eBay, although if we include them all, this could be a very long page.

Alphabetical Listing of Other Copyright Theft Sites

Other Scams

Other Web Sites All comments about copyright also cover content of all our other websites including, but not limited to:-

• Chards
  www.chards.co.uk
• Investment Gold Bars & Coins (This Site)
  taxfreegold.co.uk
• General Coins & Jewellery:
  www.24carat.co.uk
• Gold Sovereigns:
  goldsovereigns.co.uk
• 18 Carat Gold Jewellery:
  www.18carat.co.uk
• 9 Carat Gold Jewellery:
  www.9carat.co.uk