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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Ed Snible, post: 2761046, member: 82322&quot;]If the official die-cutters were irritated carving the aegis imagine how frustrating it would be as a counterfeiter!&nbsp; Your hand begins to ache, cutting the aegis, and it reminds you that if you are caught forging denarii the pain will be the least of your problems.&nbsp; From <i>Lex Cornelia testamentaria nummaria</i> 81 BC:</p><p><br /></p><p>“Those who counterfeit gold or silver money, adulterate, wash, cast, cut, corrupt or intrude a vice into gold or silver coins, or refuse a money stamped with the face of the emperor unless it is a fake one: if they are of the elite they shall be exiled to an island, if they are of low class they shall be condemned to the mines or the cross. Slaves shall be punished capitally after the deed... Anyone who gilds or silvers base metal, anyone who mixes gold with silver, who plates coins using non-ferrous metal or tin, shall pay the penalty for counterfeiting.” [ <a href="http://www.coinweek.com/ancient-coins/damnatio-ad-bestias-happened-roman-counterfeiters/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.coinweek.com/ancient-coins/damnatio-ad-bestias-happened-roman-counterfeiters/" rel="nofollow">http://www.coinweek.com/ancient-coins/damnatio-ad-bestias-happened-roman-counterfeiters/</a> ]</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]634575[/ATTACH]</p><p>Rome, moneyer Rufus, 46 BC, 2.92g 18mm <b>counterfeit</b> <b>fourrée</b> denarius.</p><p>Obv: RVFVS; Owl perched on crest of Corinthian helmet; all within circle of dots.</p><p>Rev: Small winged gorgoneion within eight-sided aegis with snakes as sides looping at vertexes, around MN·CORDIVS; all within circle of dots.</p><p><br /></p><p>(You may notice that I fooled you.&nbsp; The law, said to date from 81 BC, seems to mention &quot;money stamped with the face of the emperor&quot; which of course did not exist in Rome in 81 BC.&nbsp; Elsewhere I read the phrase was &quot;forma publica&quot;, which I saw translated as &quot;the mark of the State&quot;.)[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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