eBay Conmen Fraudsters and Hucksters
Most of the eBay listings we see for these replicas describe them as rare, restrikes, sovereigns, coins, patterns; and also place them in the wrong categories under coins rather than medallions, replicas, or exonumia.
eBay tends to be stuffed full of misdescribed, mis-categorised, and over-hyped items offered by a myriad of dodgy dealers, some of whom should know better.

A Few Examples

1819 George III Gold Pattern Sovereign by Pobjoy
We have no doubt that Pobjoy sold these honestly and ethically for what they were, although we do take issue with their certificates which clearly state these to be "re-strike" . 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 listings 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.

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
Real, bricks and mortar, old style businesses would probably go bust if they tried to run their businesses in the same way that most eBay dealers do. Apart from acquiring an early reputation for misleading and overcharging people, they would fall fall of consumer legislation in most countries.
Although the internet, and sites like eBay have made things better in many ways, they have opened up untold opportunities for small-thinking, small-time dealers to not only make a quick buck or two, but to keep getting away with it for a few years. If they get chucked off eBay, they can rejoin under a different name; some user maintain multiple IDs. Many of these dealers do not maintain the high ethical standards that other old-fashioned dealers do. Eventually most of them will fade away, but unfortunately will almost certainly be replaced by other similar chancers.

Semi-Literates What many of these small dealers appear to have in common is a disregard for the English language. Most of them write in text speak, and often use either all capital or no capitals. A cockroach could have higher aspirations! Their attitude towards education, grammar, spelling, and other human beings seems to be "who cares?".

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.

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.

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!

1936 Edward VIII Pattern Sovereign - Fantasy Piece We describe, and comment upon, a fantasy so-called pattern 1936 sovereign of Edward VIII. Similar half sovereign "patterns" also exist.

Restrike Gold Sovereigns
Our index page of replica sovereigns on our Gold Sovereigns website.
We soemtimes have these for sale (described accurately of course). As at March 2011, we had a number of the above listed items at £295 each, we we fell more fairly reflects their actual value.