I picked up some interesting Greek Fourees recently. I find them interesting for many reasons and they are usually much cheaper than solid coins (or those not revealed as fourees yet anyway). I have the feeling Greek Fourees are somewhat more scarce than Roman ones but that may just be my own experience. This is my new favorite fouree in my collection. I think someone might have gotten suspicious of the coin and decided to test it by putting a hole in it. Looking at the edges of the hole you can really see that it is foil wrapped and not plated. It is actually an attractive coin in hand, the photo makes it look uglier than it appears. The dies match up really closely with Vlasto 665, the worn condition of this fouree makes it hard to call it a die match. Calabria, Tarentum Silver Foil Wrapped Bronze Fouree Nomos, Circa 310 BC, 23mm, 6.73gms Obverse: Nude warrior, holding whip in his right hand, riding galloping horse to right. Reverse: Rev. TAPAΣ Phalantus, naked, seated on dolphin l., holding Kantharos in right hand and resting left on dolphin’s back. Very similar to Vlasto 665. Ex. Aegean Numismatics, October 2020 Next is a pretty beat up Alexander III drachm fouree I got as part of a large lot. This one has seen some hard times. It also looks like it is also foil wrapped when looking at the edges of the flan chips. Alexander III, Circa 250 BC Silver foil wrapped bronze Fouree Drachm, 15mm 2.86gms, 9 h Obverse: Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin headdress. Reverse: Zeus seated left, holding eagle and scepter. Reference: Similar to ? Bronze showing through on obverse and edge chips. Do you like or collect fourees? Do you have any Greek fourees? John
Both are very nice and interesting fourrées. Excellent picks! It seems that the production of fourrées existed in ancient times since the earliest electrum coins were struck up to the late Roman solidi. I don't have any Greek one, and I think the Athena tetradrachms are one of the most frequent Greek fourées, but I may be wrong. Would be interesting to know why and where they were struck. A short and fascinating paper "An Athenian Law on Silver Coinage" can be found here: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2c5a/cc85fe4c6d5f2ac1866024a743f3bbc7bed8.pdf
Cool fourees, John! Actually, way cool! Nary a Greek fouree... but, how ‘bout an Enemy of Greece... A Persian fouree: ACHAEMENID EMPIRE: Persia Achaemenid Empire 4th C BCE FOUREE 15mm Siglos Persian hero-king in running incuse
Also we can read this interesting paragraph in the 1993 publication of The American School of Classical Studies at Athens by John Kroll: Were it not for Aristophanes' references to the emergency bronze of 406/5, one would not hesitate to condemn all subaerate Athenian owls as ancient counterfeits. But in a well-known passage in the Frogs (lines 725-726) Aristophanes laments that in 405 the city was using a very recently struck bronze currency in place of its fine old silver and "new" (i.e., 407/6) gold. In the Ekklesiazousai (lines 815-822) he recalls the awkward consequences when the bronze was demonetized in favor of the reestablished silver coinage. Since no wholly bronze coins of appropriate 5th-century date are known from Athens, numismatists have generally assumed that the 406/5 bronze was a silver-plated bronze coinage. This solution, first proposed by Barclay Head in 1911, was immeasurably strengthened some years later when Svoronos reported on a hoard discovered in 1902 in the Piraeus, which contained "thousands" of subaerate tetradrachms and drachms in a style (notably with the opened inner corner of Athena's eye) identical to the style of the 407/6 gold. The very magnitude of this particular plated coinage argues against its being a forger's stock: the mere hundred or so drachms that can be traced back to the Piraeus hoard show that they were minted from a minimum of five pairs of dies and that these pairs were employed in tandem, since there is no obverse or reverse sharing between them. Two tetradrachms from the hoard document a sixth pair of dies. Just fascinating
This one, struck under Alexander the Great, was sold for 250 euros in 2007: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=390604
Yes to both. These are ten of my favorites. Velia stater Neapolis, Macedon stater Istros drachm Larissa drachm Athens tetradrachm (classical) Athens tetradrachm (New Style) Kalchedon drachm Persia 1/3 siglos (type 2) Arados tetradrachm in the style of Alexander Arados, Phoenicia, drachm I don't buy fourrees any more. When I was in the market for them, prices tended to be a tenth solid with some dealers refusing to handle them at any price. Today there are too many people interested in them and many seem to sell for as much as an equally ugly solid coin. That is just plain wrong in my opinion so I let others have them unless they are quite special. Of the above, only the halved New Style tet has been acquired in the last 20 years.
Nice fouree's everyone! Makes mine look poor by comparison. My only Greek, imitating Corinth. I remember reading somewhere that, at some time in Roman history, the punishment for counterfeiting was labor in the silver mines. Must have been an ironic way to die; surrounded by all the wealth they tried to have, but never got... A serious case of a Tantalos punishment.
Hi All, A Ptolemaic fourree: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/well-bummer-its-a-fourree.357881/#post-4314474 A Ptolemaic Lead imitation, meant to deceive: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/a-...lated-counterfeits.363330/page-2#post-4635640 Greekish: Octavian Aegvpto Capta Denarius fourree, https://www.cointalk.com/threads/fo...m-if-you-got-‘em.300099/page-273#post-4526070 - Broucheion
Fourrée, holed, AND Tarentum... I'm jealous! I picked up a fourrée hybrid dolphin-rider a few months ago, but with no hole, unfortunately. CALABRIA, Tarentum Fourrée Stater. 5.43g, 21mm. Copying CALABRIA, Tarentum, circa 281-272. Vlasto –, cf. 769 (for obverse). O: Nude youth on horseback left, crowning horse; |-I above, ΙΩΠΥΙ and a squatting satyr below. R: Dolphin rider left, holding Nike and sceptre; below, prow left. My most recent is a Thasos drachm, which does have a hole... THRACE, Thasos Fourrée Drachm (Holed). 2.74g, 15.8mm. ISLANDS OFF THRACE, Thasos, circa 412-404 BC for prototype. Cf. HGC 6, 336. O: Ithyphallic satyr advancing partly to right, carrying protesting nymph; both in Classical style. R: Quadripartite incuse square. And a few others... MACEDON, Neapolis Fourrée Stater. Cut in antiquity. 6.92g, 18.7mm. Copying MACEDON, Neapolis, circa 5th century BC. cf. SNG ANS 406-19. O: Facing gorgoneion with protruding tongue. R: Quadripartite incuse square. MACEDONIAN KINGDOM, Alexander III the Great Fourrée Tetradrachm. 16.61g, 31.7mm. Irregular mint, imitating Aspendos, circa 208/7-195/4. Cf. Price 2876ff (for prototype); Leu Web Auction 3, Lot 197 (same dies). O: Head of Herakles to right, wearing lion skin headdress. R: AΛEΞAN∆POY, Zeus seated left on low throne, holding long scepter in his left hand and eagle standing right with closed wings in his right; to left, AΣ. ZEUGITANA, Carthage Fourrée EL Tridrachm. 6.68g, 22.2mm. Copying Carthage mint, circa 264-241 BC. Cf. SNG Copenhagen 183 for prototype. O: Wreathed head of Tanit left in a dotted border. R: Horse standing right, sun-disk with uraei above; dotted border.
While I usually agree with zumbly in matters of collecting, I still prefer fourree coins without holes. I am happy my Taras is not holed.
Here's a Corinthian Colony of Therion (notice the "theta"). It is a very fine, almost delicate design, and must have fooled a lot of folks before it was discovered.
Here's a plated tetradrachm of Athens that I purchased from CNG back in the early 90s, as I recall (pretty sure in the 1990's and not the 1890s). About EF Also, I do have a fouree core of an Athens-type tetradrachm, probably made somewhere in the Levant in the 4th century BC.
I just finished photographing another tetradrachm. This is an Eastern imitation of a 5th century BC tetradrachm of Athens. I purchased this coin as a fouree, and it could very well be one, but it is also possible that it is silver, possibly low grade silver. There is flaking on the obverse and some brown and green deposits, the latter possible due to higher copper content of the alloy oxidizing green. On the other hand, we could be looking at a copper core. The reverse does not exhibit this flaking, but there is a brown deposit around the tail and some more around the feet. I would like the opinion of other CT members. The coin weighs 15.7 grams, which is in the range for an imitation of this type. Thanks
In my younger and less well informed days I bought the coin below from a dealer I later discovered to be a crook who sold me more than one fake. He is dead now. This coin was interesting too me because it has a test cut that is silvered below. The coin was made (cast) with a test cut and then silver plated to look like a coin that had been tested and passed since the bottom of the cut was silvered. The seller claimed it was an Emergency issue. It was not. I paid too much. A few years later, I bought the coin below from an honest dealer (Victor England) identified as the piece of junk it is but labeled 'Found in Israel'. The style is not correct for Athens so the Israel label seemed reasonable. I believe it was also made with the cut and then plated but there is less of the plating left in the cut. Once I owned a third, even worse than these which I traded to a person that I knew understood the meaning of fourree and still shows it on his page on the subject. There will always be differences of opinion on the exact status of coins like these. The actual coins of the Emergency issued officially are extremely collectable but 99.9% of the plated owls we see were not made in the real mint and either the product of counterfeiters or Eastern copy mints (many are both). To be of the official Emergency issue, the style needs to be what was current in Athens c.406 BC. Svoronos shows seven he considered official from a hoard found in Athens. None of mine are correct. I do consider them interesting but will be buying no more.
Phoenicia, Aradus. Circa 380-350 BC. Fouree' Tetrobol (2.65g, 4h). Obv: Archaic-style laureate and bearded head of Baal-Arwad facing to right. Rev: Galley to right above waves. Ref: SNG Cop 15-18; SGCV 5972; HGC 40 type.
