If denerius is fully silver, is this just uncleaned? http://www.forumancientcoins.com/Auction/APViewItem.asp?ID=22679 stainless
Not an expert on ancients, but weren't they (Roman coins) commonly minted with a silver wash, and that caused the debasement of the currency?
That was mainly Antoniniani, and really didn't start until the reign of Gallienus in the 260's. This is what is known as a fouree, or subaeretas, denarius. It is an ancient counterfeit that was made with a bronze core and silver plating, with intent to decieve. As far as we can tell, the flans for these coins were prepared with the silver plating on, and THEN struck. Obviously, the edge would be a sensitive part, as would high parts in design, and would be prone to the silver peeling off. Imitations like this exist from the Republic on up, some are even present in earlier Greek coinage. In fact, the city of Athens, during the Pelopponesian war, even struck official silver-plated tetradrachms. However, these are quite rare today as the government was very precise in recovering all of them. In addition, some counterfeits of bronze coins, struck in bronze plated lead, exist. Compare to my specimen of a Vespasian fouree:
Ahhh, ok, this clears it up. I have heard about fouree, but this guy had it labeled as a denerius so was wondering what was up. thanks stainless
That guy usually doesn't note that his coins are fourees, but when they are, its exceedingly obvious, as in that case.
