Coin Forgers at Work. On a Group of 3rd Century AD Clay Casting Moulds from the Collection of the Musée de Normandie in Caen

Abstract

The four clay casting moulds for coins from the collection L. Gosselin in the Musée de Normandie were used to produce denari of the period of Caracalla and Elagabalus. An analysis of the production process shows that casting imitations of denari was a task which would have required fundamental knowledge on techniques common to both potters and metal casters. However, according to the archaeological record this cooperation was not necessarily a given. Especially casting imitations seems to have been a modest activity which was conducted partly in metal workshops, partly in backyard workshops. Indeed, this archaeologically well documented evidence suggests that bronze smiths alone produced counterfeited coins aside their usual business. Perhaps this work was transferred into the backyard or delegated to people in the social environment. In any case, forging coins is an urban activity, a little criminal occupation which took place as close as possible to the consumers: where a monetised everyday exchange offered best possibilities to make profit with false coins.