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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;David Atherton, post: 7710934, member: 82616&quot;]I tend to shy away from fourrées as a general rule because of their unofficial status. However, there is one infamous fourrée type that is a must have for any serious collector of Flavian coins. I finally acquired one, and at a bargain basement price too!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1322733[/ATTACH]<b>Vespasian Fourrée </b></p><p>Fourrée Denarius, 2.75g</p><p>Unknown mint, After 71 AD</p><p>Obv: IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG TR P; Head of Vespasian, laureate, r.</p><p>Rev: IVDAEA DEVICTA; Palm tree; to l., Judaea stg. l., hands bound in front</p><p>RIC 1120 (R). BMC 388. RSC 243. BNC 423. Hendin 1488.</p><p>Acquired from NumisCorner, June 2021.</p><p><br /></p><p>Fourrées are ancient counterfeits composed of a copper core coated with a thin silver plating. The IVDAEA DEVICTA Flavian denarius type from Lugdunum is commonly found as a fourrée, so much so that the auctioneer Ira Goldberg states &#039;Of the 12-15 specimens of this IVDAEA DEVICTA type that this cataloguer has examined, all have been fourrées!&#039; Personally, I have observed that nearly 60% of these denarii seen in trade are fourrées. Why this is so remains a mystery. Could the plated examples be the work of unscrupulous Lugdunese mint workers skimming profits? Or, did a talented forger in Gaul have a fondness for this one reverse type? The fact that there are no known die links between plated and solid specimens lends credence to the latter theory.</p><p><br /></p><p>The evidence that this type was well know as a fourrée in ancient times can be seen from the test marks behind the neck and below the chin of the portrait on this solid example in my collection.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1322743[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Either plated or solid the type is fairly scarce, so much so the as yet unpublished Flavian A&amp;C changed the frequency rating from &#039;common&#039; to &#039;rare&#039;. It also must be noted that many of the specimens in major museum collections are fourrées. <a href="http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.2_1(2).ves.1120" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.2_1(2).ves.1120" rel="nofollow">http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.2_1(2).ves.1120</a></p><p>My plated specimen is an obverse die match with the Berlin coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>Please post your fourrées![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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