Marcus Aemilius Lepidus; AIMILIA REF S•C M•LEPIDVS

My first post on CoinTalk, I am curious to get opinions on this Roman republican denarius from M. Aemilius Lepidus

In my view it is nicely struck, good surfaces, nicely toned, and well centered. It is on a 19mm flan that is only 2.6g - significantly underweight. The chips on the obverse suggest fourre - contemporary counterfeit? someone at the mint stole a set of dies? some metal other than silver - a little coppery green glint in the chip?

Is there any way to tell if the metal underneath the chip is silver or something else (without damaging the coin)?

Obverse: Laureate and veiled head of the vestal virgin Aemilia right
Reverse: View of the Basilica Aemilia et Fulvia, as a two-storied structure with row of shields attached to the columns; Inscription around: AIMILIA REF S•C M•LEPIDVS

Inscription: "AIMILIA REFectio Senatus Consulto Marcus LEPIDUS"
(Basilica Aemilia restored by Marcus Lepidus by Decree of the Senate)

Michael Harlan dates this coin as 53 BC when Lepidus was curule aedile, Ptolemy XII was looking for a Roman protector for his son to secure succession, and the Basilica Aemilia had been rebuilt by his brother Paullus. He speculates that this small mintage coin may have been authorized by the senate to restock and repair grain warehouses damaged in the floods of 54 or some similar minor project.

in 43 BC Lepidus was a member of the 2nd Triumvirate with Octavian and Marc Antony. Lepidus made a land grab in 36 which gave Octavian an excuse to get rid of him. Octavian accused him of attempting to usurp power and fomenting rebellion. Lepidus was humiliated when his legions in Sicily defected to Octavian and Lepidus was forced to submit to him. He was stripped of all his offices except that of Pontifex Maximus and sent into exile.

 

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It looks like a fourree to me and the weight is consistent with that, so I voted counterfeit (ancient counterfeit).

Nice coin

 

Oh, and welcome to CoinTalk !

 

+1 on the above. You can see the exposed core on the veil and base of the neck. Still, a great coin!

 

Fourrée, for the reasons TIF and Jay note above.

 

I suppose I will side with those responses above, but, to be honest, I may not have noticed the exposed core if it hadn't been pointed out. It's a lovely piece.

 

Fourrée, but copying the style of the moneyer very accurately. Nice find!

 

Welcome to Coin Talk, Sulla80. I'm no expert, but the weight alone seems to put this in the unofficial category. Nice toning and style on it though.

But it is puzzling. I am not sure fourrées were typically all that underweight, were they? What's the point of making a base-core copy if the low weight would be so easy to detect? The only reason I suspect the OP of being a fourree is what looks like core exposure on the obverse.

In my limited experience, any Roman Republican denarius getting around 3 grams is pretty suspicious. And yet, I keep running across examples that look pretty good.

For a little over a year I've been accumulating examples of my avatar (not that I own necessarily- just ones I find online), looking for light weight (3 grams or under) examples that aren't obvious cast fakes. I have found several examples at 3 grams or less that do not appear to be fourrée. Modern forgeries? Perhaps. I just don't know. One of the examples I found appears to be both very worn and crystalized - that could explain a low weight. But I have found several well-preserved examples that are just light.

Here is a Censorinus (my avatar) that I own - it weighs just a whisper under 3 grams. I posted it back when I first joined CT and it was overwhelmingly deemed a counterfeit. People on this Forum know a lot more than I do, so I am inclined to agree. But I don't think it's fourrée and I can't figure why a modern counterfeiter would want to bother with something so off-center. There could be other answers - barbaric? The obverse style is pretty "Roman" but the reverse, including the lettering, is a bit "barbaric." It is possible it is a cast fake, but the edge clean-up was well done. The Forgery Network features several examples of fakes for this type, but none appear to be a die match for mine.




Roman Republic Denarius
Lucius Marcius Censorinus
(82 B.C.)
Laureate head of Apollo rt. / L CENSOR Satyr Marsyas, bearded, nude and drunk holding wineskin before column (Minerva?).
Crawford 363/1d;
Marcia 24; Sydenham 737
(2.97 g. / 18 mm)

 

The weight of denarii fluctuated quite a bit, especially during times of turmoil. This is evident during the triumvirates.

 

There are times when government is powerless to stem the tide of epidemic counterfeiting, at which point weight and style make no difference. The people need cash money, so they produce it for themselves and use it as such. See Hard Times and Civil War Tokens in our recent history.

 

Thanks, Marsyas Mike,
I have to say, from the pictures, I wouldn't have pegged your Censorinus as a modern fake or as cast. However, I have been fooled by some convincing (off-center) reproductions on EBay from Greece, where once in hand the coin was obviously not right, and a forgery confirmed by David Sear - who cited underweight, evidence of surface pitting, and harsh cleaning...potentially to conceal the casting.)