Modern Cast Replica of
Early British Minted Ceylon coins
of 1802, 1815 and 1821

In late 2007 a lot of Fake Ceylon copper coins appeared on the numismatic market in Colombo and also on eBay. They were reported to eBay, but that was not effective to stop the listings. Most knowledgeable collectors knew to recognize them, and they were soon supplying the hawkers fleecing the gullible tourists who were visiting the island in increasing numbers after the 30 year civil war ended on 2009 May 18th.

In 2011 June a trusted and knowledgeable dealer was shown a large collection of them by another dealer, who had previously sold a few for profit and then purchased the collection without knowing they were all replica. I was able to record the weights of these replica coins for this web report.

These cast replica can be identified by the soft nature of the design and typical surface bubbles from cast. They are on average about 20% lighter, but since the weight has a large rms dispersion of over 10%. some may be close or over the legal weight. The Genuine coins of these types were struck at the Royal Mint, and those in the lakdiva collection are within 1-2% of legal weight.

Early British Minted coins.

1802 1/48 Rix Dollar Copper REPLICA - 20% lighter on average
1802 1/96 Rix Dollar Copper REPLICA - 65% heavier & 26% bigger diameter.

1815 1 Stiver Copper REPLICA - 17% lighter on average
1815 2 Stiver Copper REPLICA - 20% lighter on average

1821 1 Rix Dollar Silver REPLICA - 8% lighter - contemporary forgery ?

Collector Demand for Elephant coins had created a supplier. I have not yet been able to identify the source of these replica.

The molds for the new replica coins have been made from Genuine coins, and therefore more difficult to recognize as fake from just a low resolution image as for example posted on eBay. They can easily be recognized by their weight and appearance under 10X magnification.

The more common fakes sold in Galle and other tourist destinations in Lanka, used molds which have been crudely redrawn. That makes them immediately recognized as fake, by anyone who has seen a Genuine coin.

If anyone has any of these replica please send me the type and weights so I can improve on the statistics. If you have any other types not posted, please send me a 600 dpi scans of both sides as well.

I thank the dealer who made available the replica for me to study. I am sad that his contact had been taken in by these fakes, without a second opinion. This web page is an attempt to educate numismatists online. I am always willing to study any unusual Lankan coin-like-item and give my opinion on them.