While at the coin museum in Rome, I stumbled across these amazing old dies from the republic and the empire. It's extremely interesting how advanced the ancient Romans were even in their coinage. As other civilizations were beating their heads with stones, the Romans were building Colosseums and Pantheons. I think it is ridiculous how they figured out how to mint a virtually perfect coin all those years ago. Feast your eyes upon these treasures! Yes, those are republic Asses!
These are not dies but molds made to cast counterfeit coins. Very few genuine, official dies survive. https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Augustan Coin Dies
For comparison, below are two Alexandria mint, Contantius I folles. One is a cast forgery made from clay impressions. The other is (slightly double) struck from engraved dies. Note the difference in detail. The photo above is my first with my Christmas present (Canon FP) from myself. I have not had a new camera for ten+ years and needed one like a hole in the head since the old one is better at making pictures than I am but I will enjoy the learning of the features now standard that were unknown in 2009.
Cool, @Colby J. Sounds like a fun trip to the museum. I have a genuine one that is similar to the ancient forgery: Gratian, AD 367-383. Roman Æ maiorina, 5.92 g, 22 mm, 12 h. Constantinople, AD 383. Obv: D N GRATIA-NVS P F AVG, helmeted, draped and cuirassed bust, right, holding spear and shield. Rev: GLORIA RO-MANORVM, Emperor standing facing, head right, on ship, raising right hand. Victory seated at helm. No wreath in field; in exergue, CONΓ. Refs: RIC 52a (unlisted officina).
What "coin museum in Rome" is this? I'm familiar with the numismatic collections in Palazzo Massimo alle Terme and in the Capitoline Museums. There's also the Bank of Italy's Money Museum (open only on the last Saturday morning of 10 months of the year!) and the Rome Mint Museum. I'll be in Rome next week and wonder if I've been missing something. John
Thanks for sharing. A trip to Rome is on my wish list. There are plenty of neat things to see there. What is the name of the museum you visited? I have seen pictures of that cast bronze hoard. The condition of the pieces in your pic is amazing. I have only a small piece of that kind of bar, with no features. CNG offered some forger's dies a while back. I was able to pick up some. The multi coin tree is neat.
There are some genuine ancient dies out there, for both the Greeks and the Romans. With these cast counterfeits, though, I wonder how we can tell the difference between an ancient cast forgery and a modern one? Perhaps @dougsmit can shed some additional light?
I think we should distinguish between the uses of the words die and mould. Dies are used for striking coins.
The museum is a branch of the National Roman Museum--but I forgot its name. And they have a huge gallery of coins. I saw specimens worth millions including an Ides of March denarius and a Titus Colosseum inaugural Sestertius. My favorite one, though, was the Numerian solidus which I swear is a proof! Which I know don't exist Here's some other pics I took, I believe they had 190 republic coins and well over 400 imperial coins. I'll have to check but you can look it up.
There are several things to consider but no single one is conclusive. If the coin has believable patina, corrosion or was found in a hoard likely to be ancient, it is a good sign. If the item is bright or has surfaces that look like it was made by modern techniques, that is bad. You could ask the same questions about struck coins. Just because a coin is struck from dies doe not make it real. I bought mine as an ancient fake from a seller who believed it was ancient and was reasonably skilled and very reputable. That is also recommended for struck coins.
At Palazzo Massimo museum (near central railway station Stazione Termini) there is the Monetario, which is the exhibition of roman coins of the Museo Nazionale Romano. It’s a must see particularly for early roman coinage.
