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Forgeries of Hungarian Coins in the Zagreb Archaeological Museum Numismatic Collection

Falsification of coins has always existed on different levels. There were cases when rulers, or states, or a city, publicly, or in secret, imitated coins of a neighbouring or a more remote state, which were considered valuable and and enjoyed public favour – in this case we call it « ; ; imitating» ; ; . Let us only look at the Frisatic coinage where there are very many imitations (Beischlag, Beischläge). In the Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia it was Paul of Bribir from the Šubić clan (Paulus, banus Chroatorum et tocius Bosne dominus) who found the prototype for his grossi (1302-1312) in the Venetian grossi of the 13th c. Nicholas of Ilok (Ujlaki), as titular king of Bosnia (1471-1477), struck one variant of denarii with the obverse imitating the obverse of the denarii of the Aquileian patriarch Antonija II Panciera (1402-1411), and another one after the soldi of Lodovico II di Teck (1412-1437). The reverse type of these denarii reminds us of the Hungarian denarii of the period, as well as the obverse and reverse of the third type of Nicholas' coins. Before this, still in the 13th c., the Hungarians not only liked to save the good Slavonian Banal denarii, but also, here and there, in a certain way imitated them, especially under Béla IV (1235-1270) and Ladislaus IV (1272-1290. The Republic of St. Blaise (Dubrovnik) also made a contribution to this sort of minting, but this occured much later. Real counterfeiting was commited by individuals or small groups of brave and daring men, in spite of draconic measures against this crime, which must have been known by them. Most frequently their products were of copper, gilt or silver-plated. The weights of these forgeries were more or less similar to the original, official strike. Forgeries struck in base silver ought to be analyzied, but the alloy is normally very brittle. In most of the cases we can recognize them by their workmanship. Sometimes the inscriptions look correct, but the forgery can be recognized in some tiny, yet essential details. Other specimens can immediately be identified as the legends make no sense indeed. The minting tools for such coins must also have been very primitive, and the entire process carried out in a secluded place. The relief of the forgeries is normaly very shallow. A treasure, namely savings or a hoard, is normally assembled with minute attention, and its collector always takes his time when studying each of the pieces, therefore normally there are fewer forgeries in a treasure trove. The situation is entirely different in a market place, where it was indeed very easy to deceive an illiterate peasant. Besides, who from these society strata could afford an extremely expensive pair of spectacles, if short-sighted? Judging from the nonsensical inscriptions and inexistant or upside down letters in inscriptions, the conterfeighters too were illiterate. Finally, in spite of general illiteracy and bad eyesight, most of the forgeries were sooner or later discovered because of their minor weight or different taste or colour if bitten, and thrown on the ground. Some specimens were pierced and sewn on a dress, or hung on a thread and worn around the neck. In addition there were and still are imitations of coins specially made for this purpose.

umismatics ; coins ; forgeries ; Hungary ; Archaeological Museum - Zagreb

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