Green’s Dictionary of Slang

selling a ring to a victim; the justification for the sale is a supposed wager, which the seller can win only by selling the ring.

1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 37: FAWNEY BOUNCING, selling rings for a wager. This practice is founded upon the old tale of a gentleman laying a wager that if he was to offer ‘real gold sovereigns’ at a penny a piece at the foot of London Bridge, the English public would be too incredulous to buy. The story states that the gentleman stationed himself with sovereigns in a tea tray, and sold only two within the hour,-winning the bet. This tale the fawney bouncers tell the public, only offering brass, double gilt rings, instead of sovereigns.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict. [as cit. 1859].
1873		Sl. Dict.

(UK Und.) one who practises the fawney-rig

1839		H. Brandon Dict. of the Flash or Cant Lang. 168: Fawney droppers gammon the flats and take the yokels in.
1857		‘Ducange Anglicus’ Vulgar Tongue 39: [as cit. 1839].
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. 9/1: Fawney-droppers gammon the flats and take the yokels in. Ring-droppers deceive the simple ones and take in the countrymen.

a seller of bogus jewellery.

1899		J. Flynt Tramping with Tramps 280: There were two well-dressed tramps whom I immediately recognized as ‘fawney men’ – fellows who sell bogus jewelry for more than it is worth.
1900		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 30 June 6/1: Blanket stiff, gay cats [...] blokies, crooks, phony men, prushuns looking for small boys [...] hoisters and even tomato-can vagswere present.
1932		F. Jennings Tramping with Tramps 212: Fawney Man – pedlar of bogus jewellery.

a fraud involving dropping a fake ring; see cit. 1796.

1781		G. Parker View of Society II 166: The Fawney Rig. A Ring Dropper: a fellow who has gotten a woman’s pocket, with a pair of scissors, some thread, a thimble, and a housewife with a ring in it, which he drops for some credulous person to pick up. [...] He then comes the stale story of ‘If you will give me eight or nine shillings for my share, you shall have the whole.’ If you accede to this and swallow his bait, you have the ring and pocket, worth about sixpence.
c.1786		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: Fawney Rig. A Common Fraud thus practised: A Fellow drops a brass ring, gilt, which he picks up before the Party meant to be cheated, & to whom he disposes of it for less than its supposed, & ten times more than its real, value.
1789		G. Parker Life’s Painter 181: Fawny. An old, stale trick call, ring-dropping.
1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (3rd edn) .
1801		G. Hangar Life, Adventures and Opinions II 60: Various impositions, practised daily on the unwary [...] such as come the fawney.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1796].
1821		‘An Amateur’ Real Life in London I 556: Your ring-droppers, or practisers of the fawney rig, are more cunning in their manoeuvres to turn their wares into the ready blunt.
1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 37: FAWNEY, or FAWNEY RIG, ring dropping. A few years ago, this practice or rig was very common. A fellow purposely dropped a ring, or a pocket book with some little articles of jewellery, &c. in it, and when he saw any person pick it up, ran to claim half. The ring found, the question of how the booty was to be divided had then to be decided. The Fawney says, ‘if you will give me eight or nine shillings for my share the things are yours.’ This the flat thinks very fair. The ring of course is valueless, and the swallower of the bait discovers the trick too late.
1860		Birmingham Gaz. 11 Aug. 5/6: Finders of pretended silver fingers, are now-a-days represented by the ‘fawney riggers,’ or droppers of counterfeit gold rings.
1868		‘Six Years in the Prisons of England’ in Temple Bar Mag. Nov. 535: I’ll tell you a game that you might try [...] that is ‘fawney-dropping;’ you know ‘fawney’ means a ring.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1880		W. Hooe Sharping London 35: Fawney-Rig, another term for ring dropping.
1891		F.W. Carew Autobiog. of a Gipsey 17: Shoful-pitching, fawney-rigging and the thousand and one ingenious devices whereby the impecunious endeavour to augment balances at their bankers.
1976		R. Sabbag Snowblind (1978) 31: What Swan was engaged in here [...] was a very famous and time-honoured flim-flam – in the slang of the Victorian London rampsman, it was affectionately known as the fawney-drop.

(US Und.) a shop selling fake or cheap jewellery.

1903

H. Hapgood Autobiog. of a Thief 57: Then he goes to a fauny shop (imitation jewelry) and buys a few diamonds which match the real ones he his noted.

to wear a counterfeit ring.

1890–1904

Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

to perform acts of fraud involving bogus jewellery.

1789

G. Parker Life’s Painter 141: That’s better to you than going upon the fawney.