Baked clay mould for making fake Roman coins

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This baked clay mould for making fake Roman coins was found at Brighouse Bay in Kirkcudbrightshire. It was used to make counterfeit denarii in 238 AD. The matrix for both obverse and reverse are taken from two different Roman coins.

This picture shows the side of the mould used to produce the obverse of the counterfeit coin. The coin used as a matrix was a coin of Aquilia Severa, who was made empress in 220, the year the coin was minted.

The silver denarius was the basic foundation of the Roman monetary system at this period. Such coins were struck, not cast. Forgeries such as this one are rare in Scotland. It dates from after the withdrawal of the Roman forces. The Roman currency system included the denarius (plural: denarii), a small silver coin, as the most common coin in circulation. Classical historians regularly say that in the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire the daily wage for a laborer was one denarius. The denarius was first struck in 211 BC during the Roman Republic, valued at 10 asses, giving the denarius its name which translates to "containing ten". In 118 BC it was re-tariffed at 16 asses, to reflect the decrease in size of the As. The As was a bronze or copper coin. The denarius continued to be the main coin of the empire until it was replaced by the antoninianus in the middle of the 3rd century AD.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-100-103-261-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  X.1997.770
• Date: 238 AD
  
• Material: Mould
  
• Dimensions:
• What: Mould
  
• Subject:
• Who:
• Where: Scotland, Kirkcudbrightshire, Brighouse Bay
  
• Event:
• Description: Mould for fake coins, from Brighouse Bay, Kirkcudbrightshire, 238 AD
  
• References:
  • Boon, G. 'Mould for fake denarii' in DG Maynard. "Archaeological discoveries in the dune system at Brighouse Bay." Transactions of the Dumfries and Galloway Natural History and Archaeological Society, 69 (1994)
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