An ancient coin which isn’t what it seems

Obverse

The Denarius is one of the most well-known denominations of ancient Roman coins. It was the most important silver coin in the Roman Republic and Empire for over 500 years.

Introduced in 211 B.C., the coin was needed to pay the mercenaries in the Roman armies for their services, because these foreigners had no use for the traditional Roman
bronze coins. A denarius is listed in the bible as a day’s pay for a labourer. Universidad de Salimanca notes a legionary was paid 225 denarii a year, which was given to him on three days of the year with 75 denarii on each of these days.

Significant is that the denarius was related to Rome’s long-established bronze coin system. The original denarius included an X next to Roma’s portrait on the obverse. This indicates “10 asses.” The Latin term “denarius” literally means “tenner.” An “As” was a base metal coin, one of the earliest types of coin in Rome. Here is an early AES Grave, a refinement of earlier AES Rude, which was basically a lump of copper.

Back to today’s example, and it features the portrait of Augustus. Full name, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. Augustus was the “Founder of the Roman Empire“, he was the first emperor following Julius Caesar, whose rise to dictator helped lead to the downfall of the Republic in 27 B.C. and the creation of the Roman Empire.

The Roman Republic became the Roman Empire in 27 BCE when Julius Caesar’s adopted son, best known as Augustus, became the ruler of Rome. Augustus established an autocratic form of government, where he was the sole ruler and made all important decisions. Although we refer to him as Rome’s first emperor, Augustus never took the title of king or emperor, nor did his successors; they preferred to call themselves princeps, first citizen, or primus inter pares, first among peers. This choice of title maintained the appearance of limited power that had been so important under the Republic.

Lettering around the bust on the coin would read “CAESAR AVGVSTVS”, Caesar Augustus. CNG sold this very nice example in 2008.

Reverse

The reverse features the text OB CIVIS SERVATOS around the edge with S P Q R and CL V in the centre. This essentially translates to “For saving the citizens. The senate and the Roman people. Votive shield.”.

Looking up this coin on Numismatics.org, we get a nice map of where it was minted and where examples have been found. The coin was minted in Colonia Patrica, in what today is Córdoba, Spain. Examples have been found near there, and as far North as Tours, France. It is easy to think of “Rome” as either the modern city, or even just “Italy”, but the Roman Empire was so much larger. Here is a map of the Roman Empire in 14 A.D., at the end of Augustus’s rule:

Map from Wikipedia. Yellow is Italy, Red is imperial provinces and blue is Senatorial provinces. Imperial provinces were newly-won and had the presence of Roman troops. They came under the emperor. The other provinces came under the Senate. Note that the Roman Empire includes parts of Egypt and Africa, Turkey, Syria, Israel, Lebanon, Greece, Serbia, Croatia, Germany, France, Spain and other countries. Types of this coin were minted in “Baetica” on the far left, and found there and in Lusitania just above, and in Aquitania and up towards Galla Lugunensis.

I haven’t found a specific reference as to what the citizens were saved from, however, around this time, Augustus subdued some of the last of the Iberian tribes in Spain, or Hispania, completing the conquest of the region. Was this Rome’s way of saying “We, your new overlords rescued you from the barbarians, we are wonderful!” Or did it relate to something else? Let us know what you think.

Fouree

So, an interesting, historic Roman silver coin, right? Well, not quite. It turns out there is still a little more to this piece. The damage to the coin and the way it looks is not just the result of 2,000 years of wear and being buried. It turns out, the coin isn’t silver actually, or at least, not completely silver.

The coin is what is known as a “Fouree”. An ancient counterfeit coin, made of copper, and plated with silver. The name is a French word, fouree, defined as “filled” or “stuffed”. Counterfeiting coins goes back a long way. In fact, Fourees predate coins themselves. We’ve mentioned Lydia previously, and how they refined electrum and used nuggets of it with ridges and punch marks as payment. There have even been counterfeits found of these early pieces, made in the same manner as later fourees of coins like mine. On my coin, you can see the base metal “core” showing through where the coin is broken to the right of the emperor’s portrait on the obverse, at the bottom of the reverse and where there are signs of verdigris.

While creating counterfeit coins is as old as money itself, collecting them is nearly as ancient a pastime. Pliny “the Elder” (Gaius Plinius Secundus, lived 23-79 A.D., died in the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius) noted that some Romans of his era collected high-grade counterfeits:

“It is truly marvellous, that in this art, and in this only, the various methods of falsification should be made a study: for the sample of the false denarius is now an object of careful examination, and people absolutely buy the counterfeit coin at the price of many genuine ones”.

Fourees today are still collectible. As with any coin, it is important for sellers to be honest about their knowledge of the coin. In some cases, a fouree may be worth considerably less than a genuine coin, although there are rare fourees. One of 15 known EID MAR fourees sold for $5,000.

(Edge view of a modern United States Quarter)

Are there modern fourees? There are certainly modern counterfeit coins, something mints around the world endeavour to stamp out as quickly as they find them. And there are genuine coins made essentially in the same manner. The modern United States Quarter has been made with “Copper-nickel clad copper” since the change from silver in 1965. Many examples show the copper core through around the edge, such as the photo above.