That's the kind of problem you may run into when you build up high expectations before launching a new coin. The old £1 was counterfeited a lot, and this new one was advertised as having several sophisticated security features. And it does have them, but people will look at their new pieces more attentively, I think ... With such bimetallic coins, separating the pill and the ring does not take a rocket scientist by the way. I tried it once with a €1 coin; leaving it in a freezer for a few hours, and then dropping it, usually gets the job done. Has something to do with the two parts having different thermal expansion coefficients; you will know more about this. Christian
As anyone that drove a car in the 60's & 70's that had a "bad thermostat" should recall. I still have a bi-metallic coil with a mercury bulb controlling the heating system in my house.
Yes! I had a discussion once here on CoinTalk with another Member, who was British, who said that error coins were not interesting and that the British do not care for them and the British Royal Mint did not have such Mint error issues as the US Mints do... this is great news!!!!
Don't think that "error collecting" is a big thing in the UK, certainly not when it comes to minor flaws. But do a web search for kew gardens 50p error for example. Don't think that this - the "faulty" £1 coins - is a major issue. But it might become a problem when such errors make people say, oh well, this new pound coin that I just got does not look "as advertised" but I know there are bad ones around. That could encourage the counterfeiters ... Christian
I knew a friend who bought a Mercedes in Germany and when he took it in for servicing he complained about a noise and was told that Mercedes autos DID NOT make noise. After a test drive, the technician wouldn't speak to him again until the car was "fixed".
When the bi-metallic $2 "twoonies" were released into circulation in Canada back in 1996 there were similar complaints about the coins falling apart etc. I remember getting some in circulation and like @chrisild I put some in the ice box and then dropped them and separated the outer ring from the insert. But then I got the canny Scot and decided to hae some fun with HRH and the polar bear and put then insert back into the outer ring wi' a wee bit of help from a vice so that the polar bear was on the QEII side and HRH was on the reverse. And then I spent them. So surely there are a few of those that circulated an' I wonders if anyone was the wiser for noticing the "error"?
I'm guessing until the pernicious noise was "fixed" he wasn't getting his fahrvergnügen out of the car. Ooops, right country, wrong manufacturer.
This is, on one level, solace for the poor Americans who are under constant barrage from their own Mint's production failings.
