Sovereign Fakes – Counterfeiting of Sovereigns in 1950s and 1960s

> A small sidelight on this whole issue was shown during the first Gulf War in 1991. British Special Forces were issued with packs containing a number of sovereigns to buy assistance from local people behind enemy lines. The Ministry of Defence bought these coins in the Middle East. It is perhaps not surprising that when these were examined after the end of the conflict a number were found to be counterfeit!

> We were appalled to learn that the M.O.D. bought their sovereigns in the Middle East, it is the sort of idiotic mistake that tourists make all the time. We could probably have supplied them cheaper at the time, and there would have been the guarantee that all the coins were genuine. Perhaps baksheesh changed hands!

I don't know; if I was accepting currency in exchange for helping enemy combatants, I'd probably want it to be representative of the kind available locally rather than the kind available in said enemy state...

Found while looking up José Beraha Zdravko after reading [1].

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37504550