Fake Johor Sultanate coins openly sold in Facebook

​Yesterday, I saw a few of my numismatic friends on Facebook arguing with a coin seller who sold Fake Johor Sultanate coins openly in Facebook. Most of the Malay Sultanate Coins collectors already knew the fraud committed by the seller but new collectors may be easily fooled by old coins advertisement by the fraud seller. Rumor has it that news of "The Lost Treasure of Johor" reported by The Star December last year is also done by the same gang.

A Facebook friend, using a pseudonym "Muzium Matawang Nusantara" shared 2 photos of Malay Sultanate Coins offered by the seller. In that posts, the seller selling a complete gold coins set of Sultan Abdul Jalil Shah III for RM5,000 and Sultan Mahmud Shah for RM8,000. "Muzium Matawang Nusantara" also told me that the seller has claimed that a Johor government agency has purchased his Malay Sultanate Coins and an old cannon for RM47,000. It is such a waste if that story really happened. Imagine what happens to the next generation when we display the fake coins in a museum, our young generation might be thinking that the fake coins are real because it exhibited in museums. When I investigated further, the seller also attach a letter showing that he were given a contract to supply an artifact for museum and a letter showing he asked permission from Sultan of Johor to wrote a book about Johor Sultanates coins? A fake coin seller doing that? For real? 

Looking at some of their arguments in Facebook regarding the fake Malay Sultanate gold coins, I attach a couple of reasons wrote by a Facebook user with pseudonym "Pera'i Sejarah", a friend of "Muzium Matawang Nusantara":

1. Sultan Alauddin Riayat Shah II coins sold by the seller used the same die and the coin look identical.

2. A reverse of Sultan Mahmud Shah II (1685-1699) gold coins and Sultan Abdul Jalil Shah III (1623-1677) gold coins used the same die with almost 99% identical design. A different era of Johor Sultan use same die for their gold coins?

3. Even though the counterfeiters cut the edges of the counterfeit currency to create different dimensions of the currency, the die is still look the same.

4. The seller also have plenty of the Mas, Kupang and other Johor Sultanate coins, most of the time, the seller offer a complete set of coins.

According to "Pera'i Sejarah", Johor Sultanate coins are unique currency, it have Dot, decorative circle and the inscription are pretty well written. Founding a same pieces of 99% identical 400 years old coins in a huge amount does not make sense though not impossible. He is using the same die to cut cost and to maximize his profit.

Sifu Dickson Niew in his blog Fakesilvercoin.com wrote, to detect fake coins you need to look at 3 basic things:

1. Grading-too good to be true
2. Price-too cheap to be true
3. Quantity-too many to be true

The sellers advertisement shows that it not passed all the criteria suggested by Sifu Dickson.

In numismatics, the results of laboratory tests for the coins metal is not the only way to check for original coins. We must look at other possibilities and criteria that can guide us about the coins authenticity. When someone is offering a very rare old coins with a very cheap price and you can choose the specific coins since the seller have a huge quantity in his possession, the authenticity of the coins are doubtful. Why? Please use your common sense and please put aside your greed. When you can suddenly see a very hard to find 400 years old coins in a large quantities, isn't it a miracle? Miracle usually does not happen in the real world, it only happens in the world of fantasy.

Department of Museums Malaysia (Jabatan Muzium) and Johor Heritage Foundation (Yayasan Warisan Johor) should working together to curb this problem. The seller and counterfeiters of Malay Sultanate coins should be subject to legal action starting from now if we want to protect our heritage.

Under National Heritage Act 2005, some of the Malay Sultanate Coins has been registered under Tangible Heritage Object (Objek Warisan Ketara):

1. Duit Emas Sultan Muzaffar Shah (1564 – 1570) , Johor.
2. Duit Kijang Emas
3. Duit Emas Sultan Alau’uddin Riayat Shah I (1527/28 –1564), Johor.
4. Duit Emas Sultan Zainal Abidin II (1793-1808) Terengganu

but I am not sure if someone who make fake Sultanate coins can be brought to court for making fake coins under the act. If there is no law in Malaysia that can take action on these fraudster, Department of National Heritage (Jabatan Warisan Negara) should find a way to make sure action can be taken. The fraudster can freely active selling fake old coins because there is no action done by government agencies who where trusted to take care of our national heritage before or we don't read any news about it? If the seller claim he supply for the museum is true, I think they're many way for the government to charge him. SPRM can also involve because it is involve stealing government money.

What would happen if Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim Ismail knew that his ancestors coins imitated by his own people for profits and fraud?

If any of you my readers who knew the head of any related agencies, please help us to spread these news to them. We don't know which is the proper channels to make complaints about people who forged our nation's heritage. We just want to make sure that the country's rich heritage preserved.