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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;robinjojo, post: 8271396, member: 110226&quot;]The VOC coinage, especially the ducatons, has always been a challenge to acquire.&nbsp; I do have a fake VOC ducaton from Indonesia, that&#039;s listed on the website for fakes, but I&#039;ve never had any luck with the genuine coins. They bring premium bids in auctions, beyond my means at least.</p><p><br /></p><p>And speaking of fakes, or imitations if you will, here is my half lion daalder from Asti, in the Piedmont of Italy.&nbsp; It is quite an interesting coin with a colorful background.&nbsp; I ended using three labels for its description:</p><p><br /></p><p>Italy&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; 1581-1605</p><p>Imitation ½ lion daalder (talero)</p><p>Asti, Italian Piedmont</p><p>Franco Mazzetti</p><p>Obv.:&nbsp; MOER GNROGV FOE GNFDIN; knight facing right.</p><p>Rev.:&nbsp; CONFIDEN R DNON OE MOVEIVN REGL; lion facing left.</p><p>Debased silver, appears to be plated.</p><p>Rare imitative ½ daalder</p><p>Cleaned</p><p>Fine</p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; 11.5 grams </p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p>In the past, Palazzo Mazzetti, in Asti, was the residence of an illustrious Piedmontese family who made most of its fortune in minting, having publicly obtained the privilege of producing coins as early as at the end of the 15th century.</p><p>The descendants of the family did not always make a perfectly honest use of such prerogative and – as stated in a 19th-century source – often plagiarized other States’ currencies. Some members of the family made huge profits in the early 1600s by “allowing master craftsmen to continue forging foreign coins, usually for merchants who had them made and then exported the counterfeit money to other States.”</p><p>The crime didn’t go unnoticed, and there were even a few death sentences: in 1603, the Senate of the Republic of Venice sentenced two Mazzetti cousins and put a bounty of ten thousand silver ducats on their heads.</p><p><br /></p><p>The plating is obvious, with the copper core showing through in several spots.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>11.54 grams</p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; </p><p>[ATTACH=full]1459856[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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