Edward Emery was an English numismatist, responsible for the creation of forged coins.

Life

Emery was a coin-collector and coin-dealer living in London. He is said to have belonged to a respectable family, and to have been prosperous. After 1842 Emery is believed to have left London in debt, and to have died at Hastings

Hastings

Hastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....

 about 1850.

Forgeries

Under Emery's direction notorious imitations of coins known as ‘Emery's forgeries’ were produced. He engaged an engraver to manufacture dies of rare English and Irish coins, and some of the specimens struck off from these dies sold for large sums. The forgeries were in the market during the summer of 1842, but they were exposed in The Times

The Times

The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

and in the Numismatic Chronicle. Before the end of that year Emery (or his engraver) was obliged to surrender the dies, which were then cut through the centre and rendered useless.

Emery's forgeries are: penny of Edward VI

Edward VI of England

Edward VI was the King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first monarch who was raised as a Protestant...

, with portrait; shillings of Edward VI with false countermarks of portcullis and greyhound; jeton

Jeton

Jetons were token or coin-like medals produced across Europe from the 13th through the 17th centuries. They were produced as counters for use in calculation on a lined board similar to an abacus. They also found use as a money substitute in games, similar to modern casino chips or poker chips...

 or coin of Lady Jane Grey

Lady Jane Grey

Lady Jane Grey , also known as The Nine Days' Queen, was an English noblewoman who was de facto monarch of England from 10 July until 19 July 1553 and was subsequently executed...

 as queen of England; half-crown and shilling of Philip

Philip II of Spain

Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....

 and Mary

Mary I of England

Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...

; gold ‘rial

Rial

Rial or RIAL may refer to:* Rial Old English for Royal. Geoffrey Chaucer used either Rial or Ryal as in "his rial majesty" when referring to the King...

’ of Mary I; groats and half-groats of Mary I (English and Irish), and probably others. The forgeries are clever, but the lettering is not successful.