I got this chuck of copper at a coin shop in Amsterdam while on a trip last week. It was marked as a Netherland East Indies 2 Stuiver from 1810. My obsolete (1995) Krause guide says these should be 23.16 g, which is an improbably precise weight for an irregularly cut chuck of copper. Mine is 17 g. Krause mentions there are lightweight contemporary forgeries weighing about 6-10 g. Any guesses if this is: authentic, modern counterfeit, or contemporary counterfeit? I'm not in the Netherlands any more, so it's not like I could return it, but I'm curious. I don't know much about copper "bonk" money, and this is the first example I've come across.
Nothing screams fake at me. Maybe @coin_nut will weight in with his thoughts. I know he has a number of these.
Edit for the original post--should read "chunk" of copper, not "chuck." Those letters aren't even near each other, so I have no idea how I made that typo twice. Jet lag is a strange thing. I'm hoping it's authentic. I bought it from a reputable coin dealer, not off the street. I'm puzzled by the weight disparity, and can't find much of a reference on these either in a coin book or online. Thanks for any advice.
Agree with Chris in that I don't see anything obviously wrong (although I'm well outside my comfort zone with these), but I did note that a weight range of 15-25g is given in the preceding entry in Krause. I see no reason that there shouldn't be a similar weight range for this too, given the method of manufacture.
Looks good. Bonks were cut from long strips of Japanese copper, and the weights are always screwy. Check the weights of the pieces on Zeno.ru and you'll see. Some counterfeits are cast
