The As of
Geta Caesar shown below is a well known ancient
cast, of the sort
Cohen called "
cast in
Gaul". I know ten other specimens of the same
cast, all from the same dies and with exactly the same centering, so all clearly derived from one and the same struck original.
This new specimen, however, is the only one to show doubling of the details on both sides. On the
obverse, note especially
GETA CCAES, with double C. On the
reverse, there are two
exergue lines crossing one another with about a ten-degree shift in angle;
Minerva has a doubled
shield, doubled spear, and doubled helmeted
head; instead of
COS, we see CCOOSS, and so on.
What I don't understand is how this particular mold got doubled details on both sides. That seems to imply that both impressions were made simultaneously and the model somehow shifted, for it would be too much of a coincidence if the
obv. and
rev. molds were impressed separately and the counterfeiter just happened to make faulty double impressions on BOTH SIDES of this particular mold!
Moreover, were these casts produced in such a way that each mold could be used only once, since after pouring in the molten metal and waiting for it to solidify, the mold
had to be broken apart to retrieve the
cast counterfeit?
I must admit that I
had assumed that the molds were reused numerous times, all casts in
Gaul of a particular
type presumably deriving from one and the same counterfeiter's mold. In that case, however, we ought to find other specimens with the same doubled details as on the new specimen; but these is no trace of doubled details on the other ten examples of this
cast that I have found!
The thought has crossed my mind that the new specimen could be a flubbed modern
counterfeit of a
cast ancient one. Apart from the doubled details, the metal of this specimen has a reddish hue, whereas other casts in
Gaul are regularly of yellow brass.
However, nothing else about the coin is at all suspicious. It has the same centering as other specimens of this
cast, and despite the doubling has sharper and fuller details than any of the other ten specimens. It is convincingly patinated and has what look like ancient deposits, especially in the letters of the
legend behind the emperor's
portrait on the
obverse.
24 mm, 8.02 g, 7h.