A really good ancient fake MAL ?

[Ken W2]

I’m not usually into fourees but MALs are my favorite issue, so I bought this one to learn from. To my eyes this was a really good ancient fake. Before the pitting and resulting flaking gave it away (if it ever did), it appears this coin circulated for many years in antiquity. The plating is very thick and shows substantial surface wear. It even withstood the banker’s mark on the reverse in the wings, unless the counterfeiter cleverly applied it before the plating. There is a little softness in the devices and legends on the obverse, but the style looks really good to me. Just thought I’d share.

[Joe Sermarini]

The counterfeiters during the Roman Republic made some quite good counterfeits. Many were struck using dies created with impressions of genuine coins. Whatever method they used to impress the dies seems to have destroyed the coins because many have mismatched obverses and reverses. Of course destroying the coins was not a big deal big deal because they used the silver to make the plating foils.