Ancient Counterfeit of Claudius

[Bear]

Hello,

This is an interesting denarii of Claudius that was found in 1995 near Wortham in Suffolk. A hoard of 170 of these imitations were unearthed in Britain and believed to be made in Britain during 50-51AD.

Who made them? I would guess Roman soldiers on the frontier.

thanks,

barry

[Bear]

Reverse

[bigjarofwasps]

Hi Bear, this is really interesting. I know next to nothing about ancient coins, so am very curious as to how they know that there counterfeit? Can you shine any light on this?

[Paul R]

Hi Bear, this is really interesting. I know next to nothing about ancient coins, so am very curious as to how they know that there counterfeit? Can you shine any light on this?

Please do. This is very interesting.

[Bear]

Hello,

I've been having a problem with this coin. The forger supposably messed up the legend, but after looking at my coin I noticed that the legend is correct. HMMM.....

Legend on my coin: TI CLAVD CAESAR AVG P M TR P VI IMP XI

Legend on imitation: TI CLAVD CAESAR AVG P M TR P X P P IMP VIII (This legend should end with IMP XVIII) The X is missing...

I found a picture of an imitation from the hoard.

[Bear]

I joined a coin forum and posted it there. Maybe one of those guys might be able to help. I'll go through my books and try to solve what each part of the legend means. Then I'll post what I find out.

thanks,

barry

Reverse...