Hi all! I just bought this coin. It is an interesting antoninianus of Philip I. The reverse appears to be SECVRITAS PERPET, which I believe was only used on Gordian III sestertii. The figure on the reverse also appears to be Securitas standing left with sceptre, leaning on column The style of the coin is quite crude, similar to Antioch. The coin is also not silver, and I'm guessing the white stuff is the remains of a silver wash. The coin also (sadly) appears to have bronze disease Any thoughts? Are there any other coins of the same type I'm missing? Thanks!
Certainly. We can not call unofficial coins 'unlisted'. When you are in the business of making counterfeit coins, 'rules' are not a priority. It is my opinion that if I were an ancient counterfeiter, I would prefer to have my coins easily identifiable to me so I would not accidentally get stuck with them in the marketplace. On way of doing this would be to mismatch dies. The style on this coin is attractive but not even close to what we expect from any of the official mints. It would be interesting to know how many people in the target audience for these had any idea what the correct styles were. Some fourrees have really barbarous style but others are just different.
That's unusual, all right! The only thing close is that Gordian III issued antoniniani with SECVRIT PERPET and SECVRITAS PERPETVA reverse inscriptions, neither of which match this. Nothing similar on the Max Thrax reverse types. Moving forward, Decius, T-Bone, Volusian and Aemilian don't have such a reverse type, either. So, if it's a hybrid, there doesn't seem to be an exemplar this reverse could have been based on.
Certainly. We can not call unofficial coins 'unlisted'. When you are in the business of making counterfeit coins, 'rules' are not a priority. It is my opinion that if I were an ancient counterfeiter, I would prefer to have my coins easily identifiable to me so I would not accidentally get stuck with them in the marketplace. On way of doing this would be to mismatch dies. The style on this coin is attractive but not even close to what we expect from any of the official mints. It would be interesting to know how many people in the target audience for these had any idea what the correct styles were. Some fourrees have really barbarous style but others are just different.
Thanks for your help, everybody! Yeah, I had an inkling it might be a contemporary imitation. Still happy to own it, though
A genuine Philip I antoninianus should be ~40% silver. While significantly debased, there is still a margin for profit by counterfeiters. Not all fourrées are detectable by style, however. Many were produced by a transfer process from official coins.
