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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Ardatirion, post: 1434355, member: 9204&quot;]Doug, I can see why you&#039;d be skeptical - lead is a seriously neglected metal. But it was actually quite widely used in the ancient world. Fourrees of silver and gold coins were sometimes, as Medoraman cited, made with a lead core, though not often. There were also fourrees of bronze coins with lead cores, most commonly seen in large Ptolemaic drachms. As far as official coinage, the Ptolemaic and Seleukid Empire struck scattered series of lead denominations&nbsp; ( see O. Hoover, <i>A Late Hellenistic Lead Coinage from Gaza</i> and <i>Ptolemaic Lead Coinage in Coele-Syria</i>), as did the Nabataeans (Hoover, <i>A Reassessment of Nabataean Lead Coinage in Light of Recent Discoveries</i>). There is also the popular series of lead prutot of Alexander Jannaeus. The main body of Roman lead coinage is the large series of lead tesserae (which I can talk about for hours!), although there are also medallions of the Rome mint (<a href="http://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=76715" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=76715" rel="nofollow">http://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=76715</a>). As far as cast or struck lead counterfeits, nineteen lead tetradrachms were found during the excavations at Seleucia ad Tigrim (McDowell, <i>Stamped and Inscribed Objects from Seleucia on the Tigris</i>). I cannot, regrettably, provide any direct citations to examples from the Roman period, but I did see about a dozen in the trays of the British Museum, there misattributed as tesserae.</p><p><br /></p><p>For various other abschlags, tokens, and test strikes in lead, see F. de Callatay, <i>Les plombs a types monetaire en Grece ancienne.</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><img src="http://www.cngcoins.com/photos/enlarged/711487.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>EDIT: Most erroneously disregard instances of lead coinage in the ancient world. I have read extensively on the subject - the main (circular) argument against its use was because it wasn&#039;t used.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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