Hull grandad finds ‘fake £1 coin’ with ‘ridiculous looking Queen’s head’ in his change

A Hull grandad has been left bemused and bewildered after finding what he thinks is a fake £1 coin in his loose change.

Matthew Scaife, 72, was going through his coins when he noticed something was awry with one of the pounds in his collection.

In 2018, the Royal Mint said the new 12-sided £1 coins, which were introduced in March 2017, were “unfakeable” but Mr Scaife is convinced he has managed to find one after noticing differences between that coin and others in his wallet.

The widower from west Hull said: “I was just going through my change yesterday morning. I had lots of pound coins and this one just felt funny.

“It’s a 2017 one and it’s slightly bigger than the other ones. The Queen’s head looks ridiculous and there are marks on it that should not be on it.

“The edging of the coin was really deep and it was pressed really hard in. It’s worn as hell and I just feel there’s something wrong with it – it’s not genuine.”

Mr Scaife said he took the coin into a bank in Hessle Road with staff allegedly telling him that the quid did not look genuine.

The coin is also 1g lighter, missing one of the Queen’s earrings and missing details from a thistle, and Mr Scaife says a shop would not accept the £1 coin.

He is now worried about the prospect of other fake coins circulating in Hull and wants to warn others to keep a watchful eye on their pennies.

“It feels like there will be others knocking about,” Mr Scaife said. “This is definitely a false coin.

“I have a great stack of pound coins but sometimes I only check the 50 pence pieces because they’ve got different patterns on them but I was just going through them and this one felt odd.

“Just from the feel of it I could there was something wrong with it and it’s not a genuine. If I’ve found one there’s got to be more out there.”

Last year, Martin Shaw, who is the news editor of the Examiner Live, discovered what he thought was the first fake new £1 coin.

He said at the time: “From the side, it looked like two coins melted together. It just didn’t ‘feel’ right and it was certainly different to the other pound coins.

“My first thought was it was a fake. But wasn’t the new pound coin supposed to be ‘unfakeable’?

“That’s what the Royal Mint said but when it comes to making money there are some clever people out there.”

Mr Shaw said the Queen’s head on his £1 coin was “off centre” and said her neck “protruded at the bottom”.

The Royal Mint said at the time that no fake has ever been confirmed but it did say that there are coins with “production errors” in circulation.

A spokesman said: “It is not possible to comment on individual coins without the opportunity of examining them first hand.

“We can say, however, that the Royal Mint produces around five billion coins each year, and whilst there are tight quality controls in place throughout the production process, it is possible that rare variances may occur in a small number of coins, particularly in the striking process.”

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