Treasure: 'Blundered' fake gold coin found near Woodbridge - BBC News

[LawrenceChard]

The legends on both sides of coin, found near Woodbridge, were spelt wrongly
A "blundered" counterfeit of a 7th Century coin described as rare by experts has been declared treasure.

Although it is an old news report 31st March 2019, I thought it was interesting

 

Suffolk coroner Nigel Parsley was told the coin was an unofficial copy of a gold Merovingian tremissis, originally minted in Dorestad between 630 and 650.

It was heard the legends on both sides of coin, found near Woodbridge, were spelt wrongly.

Archaeological officer Faye Minter said Anglo-Saxon coins were valuable and "rare, counterfeit or not".

She said it was thought the coin was used for jewellery, as it had been pierced and there was a "general lack of wear".

• 'Quality' medieval seal declared treasure
• Treasure finds add to 'picture of palace'
• Anglo-Saxon gold declared treasure

Miss Minter told the hearing in Ipswich the legends on both side were "blundered" to a degree which was "unusual in official issues of this coinage".

She said it was about 0.3g lighter than usual and was thought to be made in the decades after 650.

The coin was found in autumn 2016 through metal-detecting on ploughed land.

 

What's the betting that if the owner listed it for sale on ebay as a fake, it would get removed?

😎

[RDHC]

How interesting!. I used to be the archivist of a very old institution that had amongst its manuscripts an Anglo-Saxon charter forged in the 10th century, if I remember rightly, that purported to grant to the abbey of the monks that forged it land from an Anglo-Saxon king of a century or two earlier. It looked quite convincing except to modern hand writing experts. The land never belonged to the institution and the charter had arrived there by accident in the 16th century at the dissolution of the monasteries. Just shows that forgery is as old as the hills.

[dicker]

The drill hole is very neat!

[dicker]

@LawrenceChard Very interesting - I had not seen this.

It reminds me of the Eid Mar coins - this is an interesting article (but a bit of a long read).

https://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/denarius.html

Best

Dicker

[LawrenceChard]

12 minutes ago, RDHC said:

How interesting!. I used to be the archivist of a very old institution that had amongst its manuscripts an Anglo-Saxon charter forged in the 10th century, if I remember rightly, that purported to grant to the abbey of the monks that forged it land from an Anglo-Saxon king of a century or two earlier. It looked quite convincing except to modern hand writing experts. The land never belonged to the institution and the charter had arrived there by accident in the 16th century at the dissolution of the monasteries. Just shows that forgery is as old as the hills.

There are even some fake hills in existence. Some are slag heaps in Wales, some are indoor ski slopes, others include the Marble Arch Mound in London!

[SidS]

I wonder if the original owner bought it at the Anglo-Saxon version of eBay?

[Zhorro]

24 minutes ago, SidS said:

I wonder if the original owner bought it at the Anglo-Saxon version of eBay?

From the date of the report, I would not be surprised if it was bought on the current eBay!

[LawrenceChard]

1 hour ago, dicker said:

@LawrenceChard Very interesting - I had not seen this.

It reminds me of the Eid Mar coins - this is an interesting article (but a bit of a long read).

https://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/denarius.html

Best

Dicker

You're right, it is a long read, and I may have to adjourn, then finish it later.

I just learnt some etymology:

"Pliny, for example, records that Servius, the sixth king of Rome, was the first to impress a copper coin, the image that of a sheep (Natural History, XXXIII.xiii.43). In Latin, the collective noun for livestock such as sheep or cattle is pecus—and so pecunia for money itself."

 

[RDHC]

2 hours ago, dicker said:

@LawrenceChard Very interesting - I had not seen this.

It reminds me of the Eid Mar coins - this is an interesting article (but a bit of a long read).

https://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/denarius.html

Best

Dicker

Fascinating, though undoubtedly quite tough going even for someone like me with a background as a historian by profession.