George II 1738 Gold Guinea

Obverse of 1738 George II Two Guineas

Reverse of 1738 George II Two Guineas

George II Young Laureate Head with Repositioned Legend
High value coins such as these were hardly ever used in everyday circulation, or even seen by the poorer elements of society, and tended to be used most often by the upper classes, the Government and wealthy merchants.

Obverse
Young Head Laureate portrait of the King facing left with the Latin legend GEORGIUS II DEI GRATIA meaning 'George II by the Grace of God'. Repositioned Legend.

Reverse
A crowned Hanoverian royal coat of arms surrounded by the partially-abbreviated latin legend stating "M. B .F. ET. H. REX. F. D. B. ET. L. D. S. R. I. A. T. ET. E 17 38 " and translating as 'King of Great Britain France & Ireland, Defender of The Faith, Duke of Brunswick & Luneburg, High Treasurer and Elector of the Holy Roman Empire 1738'. The crown has pointed arches, and the shield garnishing is different from that on the first George II issue dated 1733.

Genuine or Fake?
The most obvious feature of this coin is the hole. The coin has been pierced, with a neat hole above the head, presumably for suspension as a piece of jewellery. It also arrived with a small parcel of other gold coins which were damaged or had been in jewellery, including some obvious fakes. Although we would normally have looked more carefully before buying, because of the hole, which all but spoils the coin for numismatic value, we deferred a closer inspection until after it had been photographed and added to our site.
We were well aware that very high quality counterfeits of this coin were produced in the 1970's in the Lebanon.

Bulletin on Counterfeits - Publications
A series of booklets published from January 1976 to December 2002, by the I.B.S.C.C. (International Bureau for the Suppression of Counterfeit Coins) & the I.A.P.N. (International Association of Professional Numismatists).
The very first issue of Bulletin on Counterfeits, Volume 1, Number 1, on page 23, contains a description and annotated monochrome photographs of a then recent Lebanese counterfeit, although it does not include details of its origin.
The counterfeit has two lines, possibly scratches or die flaws, on the obverse, running across the II, and the DEI. Ours also has these two lines, which is why we originally suspected it to be a Lebanese counterfeit. However our coin has also got a very noticeable die crack below the bust, running from the left of the initial G of GEORGIUS to the stop after GRATIA. We have been informed that this feature was present on the genuine coin which was copied by the counterfeit engraver - diesinker, who removed it believing it to be a scratch. Apparently there are traces of this on the Lebanese fakes, but as we do not currently own one, and have not seen one for about 30 years, we cannot check this at present.
Our coin also exhibits none of the indentations on the reverse which are a notable feature of the Lebanese counterfeits. A similar known indentation on the obverse of the fakes is also absent on our coin.
We will add scans of the Bulletin to this page shortly, and also revisit our own photographs to ensure that the two common obverse lines can be seen, as they are not obvious on our photograph.

Stock and Prices
We list here recent coins from our stock. When we sell a coin, rather than remove it from this page, we simply mark it as "sold" in the "stock" column. This serves numerous purposes, it provides a historical record of our recently sold stock, and it can provide a reference source for those who wish to know the approximate value of their coins.

Date	Grade	Stock	Price £	Price $
1738	VF, but pierced	Yes	£650	$Ask

Coins Wanted
We make an active market in almost all world coins, including George II guineas. If you have any of these coins to sell, please contact us, or post them to us for appraisal and offer.

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