Revenue Act, 1889

Prohibition of importation coin.

39 & 40 Vict. c. 36.

2.(1) It shall not be lawful to import or bring into the United Kingdom any imitation coin as defined by this Act, and any such imitation coin shall be included among the goods enumerated and described in the table of prohibitions and restrictions inwards contained in section forty-two of the Customs Consolidation Act, 1876, and the law relating to the Customs shall apply accordingly.

(2) Provided that the Commissioners of Customs, acting under the direction of the Treasury, may permit the importation of any imitation coin in a particular instance if they are satisfied that such importation is for the purposes of knowledge or art, or any exhibition or collection, or for any lawful purpose, and that the imitation coin is not likely to circulate as current coin, or to be otherwise used for deceiving the public.

(3) Each of the following articles, if not a British coin, shall be an imitation coin within the meaning of this Act, that is to say—

(a) Any piece of gold, silver, copper, or bronze, or of metal or mixed metal, purporting to be a British coin or a token for British money, or bearing any word or device which indicates or may reasonably be taken to indicate that the holder thereof is entitled to demand any value in British money denoted thereon; and

(b) Any medal, cast, coin, or other like thing made wholly or partially of metal or any metallic combination, and resembling in size, figure, and colour any British coin, or having thereon a device resembling any device on any British coin, or being so formed that it can, by gilding, silvering, colouring, washing, or other like process, be so dealt with as to resemble any British coin.

(4) In this section the expression “British coin” means any coin coined in or for any of Her Majesty the Queen's mints or lawfully current by virtue of any proclamation or otherwise in any part of Her Majesty's dominions, whether within the United Kingdom or otherwise, and the expression “British money” means money expressed in the terms of any British coin.