As a practical matter,
fourree is used today to describe any
plated imitation. The original
French means something like "stuffed". As described by
Boon (
CCRB,1988, p. 111ff), an original coin is placed in a fold of silver foil and that between two plates of lead. A heavy blow leaves an exact impression in the foil and the lead then provides a supporting cushion when molten base metal is then pured into the foil clamshell.
Plated or
fourree coins were also die-struck, which produces a much less-detectable
plated copy, others were hot-dipped; some with copper cores, others with iron cores. Even
plated dupondii with lead cores are known! In major
collections and
auctions as well as in the inventories of many dealers (including my own), you will find coins produced by all of these methods (with the possible exception of
plated aes) described as
fourree, which seems a quite reasonable use of the term. One rarely knows for certain by exactly what technique a coin was
plated. The important point is that it is a
plated counterfeit, by whatever method.
Fourree conveys that meaning. One also sees
subaeratus sometimes, all interchangeable. Where I generally draw the line is with base metal coins which are not
plated per se but struck in a high-tin bronze or other
alloy which would have appeared whitish when new. This was my concern with the imitation akche discussed above. I couldn't be sure from the photo whether it was actually a
plated fourree or another sort of base imitation. I do understand your purist peeve, however. I cringe whenever I see the term "
limes denarius" but that's another
thread...
I also generally like
fourree with two r's and the accent over the first "e" but I couldn't find a way to get the accent mark even though every other symbol known to man sees to be available
-- Dave
