Idolenz
It's ‘KOPIE’ meaning 'copy'. But I have no idea why anyone would want to make a copy (fake) of this coin let alone an officially stated one (reproduction).
The original coin was 80% silver. The original was not that well engraved either, so it could be close to the real one and thought to be real by someone unfamiliar with the type. But silver coins don't have peel on them and the effigy is almost cartoon like.
Suppose it was not a happy finding.
Not this exact coin, but another 1942 NZ shilling, I found in a pile of old 10 cent coins on Sep 30 2006. This was the last day of the old large cents coins in New Zealand, as new ones had been introduced and the old ones were to be “demonitised” the next day. I worked in a $2 shop (A big fad back then and attracted a mostly low class/diverse clienteile). So I was inundated with piles of the old coins ($450 worth of old 5c, 10c, 20c, 50c and the limit was $5, but these rough people did not care and one family of unwashed children and a 400lb solo mother dumped $80 worth of the stuff on my desk, a lot of it was rusted or fake. But sorting through it came a 1942 half silver 1/- coin, the same size and value as an old 10 cent coin. It was still legal tender and shillings often appeared in change, except they were mostly muck metal coins minted from 1947 onwards, a silver one even then had about $3 worth of the stuff in it.
I swapped it with a 10 cents of my own (Any interesting coins were bought by me) and kept the coin until it got sold in some silver mix a few years ago.
I love coins. Especially silver, gold and anything really old.
Member of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand and the Auckland Numismatic Society
