David Allan Gee (c. 1929 – 13 June 2013) was a Chinese Australian coin expert, dealer, collector, and forger. Born Yon Chu Chee in the province of Guangzhou, he arrived in Australia in June 1939 aboard the SS Changtsu. In 1963 he was found guilty of two charges of possessing false die plates resembling those used for the production of postage stamps.[1]

He became a coin dealer and exhibitor of adult films.[2] Gee created forgeries of some of Australia's rarest coins. In 1979, he was sentenced to seven years gaol for forging coins.[3]

According to his friend Jim Henderson, controller of the Royal Australian Mint, "the twelve-sided design for the nation's fifty cent piece was substantially Gee's."[4] Gee died in June 2013.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Stamp News, 'An Unusual Philatelic Trial', 1 August 1963, p. 13
  2. ↑ "Coin dealer found guilty". Sydney Morning Herald. 20 January 1979. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  3. 1 2 Craddock, Adrian (11 October 2014). "A sticky business". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  4. ↑ Crellin, Andrew. "The Pattern 1966 50c". Archived from the original on 3 February 2020. Retrieved 5 December 2016.

Further reading

  • Jeffrey Watson, Don Thomas, and Jack Bennett, Heads I win: the true story of David Gee, Australia's most audacious coin forger (1986).
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