The wonderful world of Imitations or “This is how they did it at the mint I worked at."

Imitations are coins that were imitated at the time of circulation not ment to decieve collectors just making a coin good enough to be passable in a transaction. Sometimes made by local governments sometimes made by two guys wanting to go to the local bar.

Here are a few of my favorite examples.

Please Post ANY imitation coins you have collected.

12 century Tetartera .



and

This is the coin that they were trying to imitate.


Not too far off, this is a Manuel Comnenus half tetarteron ( official)

Here are some others

The Above one of one of my favorites, found in Cypress. Christ is made by an interesting design and he is missing his book. After an Alexius I coin.


This one is kinda famous , they were selling for a very good price at market, easily spotted the letter on the cross are mixed up. Another Alexius Comnenus coin.

Share your imitation coins.

 

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I have begun to notice a preference for imitations in my collecting habits. I am currently waiting in two interesting ones to arrive, but here are others:

HRE - Osnabrück
Bishop Konrad I von Velber, r. 1227-1239 (1236-39)
AR Pfenning, 17.71 mm x 1 gram
Obv.: SANCT' PE[T']. Head of St. Peter facing holding key
Rev.: +CON[RAD]VS EPC'. Voided short cross with quatrefoil in each angle
Note: Imitation of Short Cross Sterling. Supposedly of Henry III


Italy - Rome
Roman Senate, c. 12-13th C.
AR Denier, 17.26 mm x 0.9 grams
Obv.: [RO]M[A CAPVT] MV[N]. Legend beginning at 3hr. Comb center, S above with sun to left and moon to right
Rev.: [SENATVS . P.O.R.]. Cross patee, 1st q. moon, 2nd q. pellet, 3rd q. star, 4th q. V
Ref.: Roberts 4733 Variety
Note: Imitative of Champagne


Norman Italy - Apulia
Roger Borsa, r. 1085-1111
AE Follis, 19.08 mm x 2.2 grams
Obv.: Bust of Christ facing, cross behind, wearing pallium and Colvin , raising right hand in benediction, Gospels in left, crescent above, IC - XC flanking
Rev.: Cross with globule and two pellets at each extremity, large crescent below, four globules around each surrounded by pellets
Note: Imitative of a Byzantine Anonymous Follis, Class J. Found in Southern Italy. It cannot be earlier than 1085, but my attribution to Roger Borsa in Apulia is due to coins of a similar weight and size from this time and region

There are a few more imitatives on my radar as well...

 

I posted this coin recently, it is an imitation of an Abbasid drachm that is thought to have been struck by the Khazars. Note the use of two obverses, and the blundered legends:

 

Here is a handful of my imitation coins, mostly cash coins and related styles from China and the Southeast Asian islands of present-day Indonesia.

Island of Sumatra
c. 1570 - 1640 CE
Tin Cash | 0.68g
Private coinage issue copying legend of Northern Song Dynasty coin
Obv: Hong Wu Tong Bao
Rev: Plain
Ref: Unlisted in Hartill Guide to Cash Coins


Island of Sumatra
City of Palembang
c. 1595-1645 CE
Tin Cash | 0.31g
Private coinage issue copying legend of Northern Song Dynasty coin
Obv: Xian Ping Yuan Bao
Rev: Plain
Ref: Hartill Guide to Cash Coins #3.73


Island of Sumatra
c. 14 - 18th Century
Tin Cash | Possibly gambling token | 0.92g
Obv: Four sets of four dots, imitating Chinese characters
Rev: Plain
Ref: Unlisted in Hartill Guide to Cash Coins


Qing Dynasty of China
1736 - 1800s CE
AE Cash | Contemporary Counterfeit | 1.21g | 20mm
Obv: Qian Long Tong Bao
Rev: Boo Chiowan


Qing Dynasty of China
c. 1770 - 1790 CE
AE Cash | Illicit Product
Obv: Qian Long Tong Bao
Rev: Boo Yun
Minted at the unofficial mint of Pu'er in Yunnan
Ref: See Zeno#168636


Islands of Java and Bali
c. 19 - 20th Century
Zinc Cash | 2.63g
Private imitation copying obverse of Northern Song Dynasty, reverse of Qing Dynasty
Obv: Extremely corrupted Xiang Fu Yuan Bao
Rev: Extremely corrupted Manchu script mint mark​

 

Scythian tribal imitation of Pontos Amisos:


Circa 95-65 BC, AE21, 5.1g
Obv: Crude aegis
Rev: Blundered inscription, crude Nike
Ref: Mitchener Ancient & Classical World #339

Michael Mitchiner calls these imitations “Sarmatian”, perhaps because Mithradates was allied with those tribes and could have authorized the issue. The Sarmartians were a people from at least the 5th century BC to the 4th century AD who lived in western Scythia along the north cost of the Black Sea from the mouth of the Danube.

I've noticed a great variety in style between different imitative examples of Mithradates coinage. The ethnic is blundered in different ways. There are different levels of crudeness in the gorgoneion and in the tufts surrounding it. Nike sometimes becomes a stick-figure. The polygonal aegis seems to always lose its sides and become a simple lined border.

 

Very nice imitation examples @BenSi!
I have a couple of imitations that I have yet to photograph.

This is one of my favorites:

Demetrios I Soter (161-150 B.C.) AR Drachm. Imitation of Antioch mint issue dated 152/1 BC (SE 161). Struck in Commagene, time of Samos II to Mithradates I, circa 140-70 B.C.
Obverse: Diademed head right of Demetrios I right.
Reverse: Cornucopia; below, two monograms above AΞ(P) (date) below.
Reference: SC 1770-1775. For type: SC 1657.
4.30g; 15mm

 

I've been picking up un-attributed lots of Greek AEs on eBay and wound up with two Danubian Celt imitations of Macedon "trident" issues of Philip V/Perseus (and one original Macedonian issue), all within the last month or so. Fortunately FORVM had some very detailed examples, or I'd still be figuring these out.

There are several types of these, according to Malloy, but without the book, Malloy types are unclear to me; I guessed based on FORVM listings. The imitations are all over the place, from fair copies to crude. Mine are crude.



Danubian Celts, Serdi Æ 18
Macedonia Kingdom Imitative
for Philip V / Perseus
(c. 168-31 B.C.)
Serdi, Moesia tribal mint
Head of river god Strymon right, reed-wreathed / Trident, stylized dolphin ornaments, monograms, blundered partial inscription.
Malloy Danubian Celts D4A?
(5.84 grams / 18 mm)

Notes: "Celtic imitative of a rare Macedonian issue struck under Philip V or Perseus, 187-168 B.C. The choice was appropriate for the Serdi Celts as the river
Strymon runs through the Serdi region." FORVM




Danubian Celts, Serdi Æ 18
Macedonia Kingdom Imitative for Philip V / Perseus
(c. 168-31 B.C.)
Serdi, Moesia tribal mint
Head of river god Strymon right, reed-wreathed / Trident, stylized dolphin ornaments, monograms, blundered inscription.
Malloy Celts F3B or B3C?
(5.44 grams / 18 x 16 mm)

Here is the Macedonian original model - or a good Celtic copy. Despite the poor condition, it looks more Greek than Celtic, and the reverse legend is not blundered:


Macedonia Kingdom Æ 18
Autonomous Issue
Philip V / Perseus
(c. 185-168 B.C.)
Uncertain Macedonia mint
Head of the river god Strymon right, wearing grain wreath / [M]AKE[ΔONΩN], ttrident head, monogram above; & below.
SNG Copenhagen 1298-9 var.
(5.44 grams / 18 x 16 mm)

Notes:
"H. Gaebler has proved that Philip, probably about B.C. 185, allowed his subjects to issue small silver and bronze coins in the name of the whole people, ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΩΝ, his own name being omitted..."
FORVM