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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 4001564, member: 19463&quot;]My favorite Augustus is this Lugdunum as with countermark of Tiberius.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1053539[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Most of my Augustus denarii are fourrees.&nbsp; Of them, it is hard to pick a favorite but I have always liked this one with a strong, full circle seam on obverse and reverse core exposure that defines fourree.&nbsp; Technically it is &#039;pre-Augustus&#039; Octavian&nbsp; Autumn 30-summer 29 BC. Octavian’s Actian arch (<i>arcus Octaviani</i>), showing a single span surmounted by Octavian in facing triumphal quadriga.&nbsp; This was one of a group I bought in 1990 from the estate of a friend who had started my interest in technical collecting.&nbsp; If I had it to do over again, I would have bought many more of his coins since most were selected to be exceptional in ways not everyone understood. </p><p>[ATTACH=full]1053540[/ATTACH] </p><p>From my page on fourrees:</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">The best fourrees were produced by wrapping a copper core with silver foil. This sandwich was heated and struck with dies. If the heating and the force of striking were sufficient the two layers would adhere producing a thin layer of eutechtic (the alloy of two metals with the lowest melting point) at the bond. Some workshops strengthened this bond with a powdered eutechtic sprinkled between the layers. It is not always easy to tell which method was used on any particular coin. This denarius of Augustus shows seams on the obverse where the edges of the silver foil wrapper were fused by the striking process. The seam usually shows only on one side. (Try wrapping an English Muffin in two small pieces of aluminum foil and you will understand both the technique and the reason for this.) Copper core is evident on the high wear points on the reverse. The overlap left thicker silver on the seamed side so it follows that the first wear through to the core would be on the other side. </span>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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