BOGUS SOVEREIGNS

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 11784, 21 March 1924, Page 4

BOGUS SOVEREIGNS

STRANCE GERMAN ‘CURIOS’ FIND THEIR WAY TO’ NEW ZEALAND. AUTHORITIES INVESTIGATING. There was shown to a “New Zealand Times'’ representative yesterday a remarkable product of German ingenuity and industry, which, in some unexplained manner, has been permitted to come into New Zealand, and which, if allowed full freedom of importation may do incalculable harm. It is a large oval disc on which are placed what at first glance 6eem to be 19 British sovereigns, of the reigns of Queen Victoria, King Edward, and King George, showing both the obverse and the re verse sides. It is a remarkably clever piece of work, for on a cursory examination the coins look like real sovereigns. But, when looked into closely, it is found that they are made of some base metal, evidently poured into dies on which the British sovereigns had been stamped, and afterwards coated with a thin covering of gold; so that it is very difficult to distinguish them from real coins. The coins are welded together into an oval shape, and it is said that they were sent to New Zealand as “curios,’’ with the idea of being used as paperweights. DANGER OF FRAUD. There are • one or two points in connection with the matter that are likely to be inquired into by the authorities, because it is dangerous for any representations of sovereigns to be in circulation even in the apparently innocent form of “curios” and paperweights. For, in the hands of unscrupulous persons they might afford the means of perpetrating frauds. “As curios they are not really valuable,” remarked our informant, “and when it is considered that Germany’s financial straits are such that they have embarrassed the financiers of the world, it is somewhat ironic that such things should apparently be manufactured wholesale in that country and distributed to the four comers of the globe.” AUTHORITIES TAKING ACTION. The authorities, it is believed, are taking action as will prevent the importation into New Zealand of such “curios,” and it would be decidedly interesting to know who is responsible for their importation, from what firm in Germany they emanate, and their exact purpose.