counterfeit British pound

A man, I think he was Portuguese, became very rich. He built a railroad somewhere in africa. Later he succeeded in counterfeiting the british pound and the bank of england didn't even know it was counterfeit. The story must have taken place sometime between 1850 and 1920, I guess.

Sounds like something about Artur Virgílio Alves Reis. I'm not sure exactly which book, but there's a recent article about him here: https://www.damninteresting.com/devouring-the-heart-of-portugal/

Actually, the article links to a book called The Man Who Stole Portugal. Maybe that one?

>3 beyondthefourthwall: I think I have that as part of a book in Danish. Not sure what it was translated from, but highly entertaining.