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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 5233797, member: 19463&quot;]For many years I failed to find a fourree of the COSII group but then found this piece matching that shown by maridvnvm.&nbsp; I remain unconvinced that this was a fourree and have not seen one with plating remaining.&nbsp; There would seem to be a possibility that it was a Provincial AE not intended to fool anyone into thinking it was a denarius.&nbsp; I consider it noteworthy whenever we find more than one surviving example of an unofficial coin.&nbsp; Many seem to be one of a kind but that may just mean that owners of others consider them trash and not worthy of record.&nbsp; </p><p>[ATTACH=full]1217204[/ATTACH] </p><p>There are many fourrees of Septimius Severus mostly copying types of the Rome mint or being wholly original not to mention an at least equal number of unofficial coins made of solid (but debased) silver alloy. The whole matter of the denarius coinage of this period other than that from Rome needs to be studied in depth by someone with a lifetime to devote to that pursuit and access to the material.&nbsp; However, prejudice against &#039;strange&#039; coins means the material is not as well preserved in the great museum collections so a full study of this type does not strike me as likely in this century.&nbsp; We will be lucky if someone sorts out the Syrian mess or expands what we know about the Alexandrian coinage.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Among my fourrees (a speck of silver remains in the obverse left field) is one most strange using the obverse legend of Clodius Albinus, facial features of Septimius Severus but with a bare head and a reverse type and legends of Commodus. Studying something that abides to no rules is at best very difficult.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1217206[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>That is a fact.&nbsp; Less certain is why.&nbsp; Some will assume it is just a matter of ignorance on the part of the maker.&nbsp; I retain, in the back of my head, a theory that makers of bad coins intentionally made they recognizable to people in the know but not obvious to the people they were trying to fool.&nbsp; &#039;Why&#039; is never an easy question and most guesses (certainly including mine) are colored by our modern assumptions that bear no significance when trying to understand the minds of the makers.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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