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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 3153499, member: 19463&quot;]I have no knowledge of who made any particular unofficial ancient coin let alone feeling comfortable to make a statement about who made the coins as a class.&nbsp; Where we draw the line between official and unofficial is hard enough but where we cross from relatively unskilled local operations inside the empire and people far beyond the borders is hard to say without find information.&nbsp; My favorite barbarous radiate may not have been made by a &#039;barbaric&#039; person but it most certainly would have stood out if mixed with the official product.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]808368[/ATTACH] </p><p>I really, really wish we all could agree on one point of terminology.&nbsp; We need to distinguish between three classes of non-official &#039;coins&#039;.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Fakes were made significantly after the real thing with intent of fooling coin collectors.&nbsp; Some fakes are 500 years old now but they were never intended to circulate at face value.&nbsp;&nbsp; This Vetranio was made in the last 100 years for the specific purpose of fooling us.&nbsp;&nbsp; Many fakes are not this deceptive.&nbsp; Many are. </p><p>[ATTACH=full]808367[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Contemporary counterfeits were made in ancient times with the intent of circulating at face value alongside the real thing.&nbsp; Some may have fooled some people and not others but the idea at the time was to make spending money, not a collectible.&nbsp;&nbsp; Plated coins or fourrees are usually contemporary counterfeits.&nbsp;&nbsp; This Augustus fourree denarius would have fooled many Romans before the plating wore through.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]808361[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Imitatives or ancient imitations were made to circulate as face value money where there was a need for money even though everyone concerned knew that the item was not official mint product.&nbsp; One class of these are very &#039;barbarous&#039; looking but decent metal coins found beyond the empire supplies of the real thing but where people wanted coinage for the economy and new the Roman originals as good money.&nbsp; Some imitations <i>may</i> have been sanctioned by the official government for various reasons but proving this status will be difficult.&nbsp; This Tiberius denarius was found in India and has decent silver to be worth one denarius.&nbsp; Some imitatives are very hard to tell from official mint product.&nbsp; This one is easy. </p><p>[ATTACH=full]808366[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Except for fakes, the above are genuine ancient coins but some are a degree more genuine than others. </p><p><img src="https://www.quotemaster.org/images/5e/5ecff59c290bd877eeb049748e52b77d.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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