Exceptional Contemporary Counterfeit

CNG 106, Lot: 773. Estimate $5000. Sold for $4250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Marcus Aurelius. AD 161-180. AV Aureus (21mm, 7.38 g, 6h). Contemporary imitation. Uncertain mint. I I M ANTONINVS I AV COS I (or T) GERM I, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / TR P III • IMP II COS P P III, Castor, naked except for cloak seen on breast and shoulder, wearing round cap, standing left, in front of horse left, holding it by the bridle in right hand and spear with left. Unpublished. EF, faint light mark in right obverse field. An exceptionally fine and attractive contemporary counterfeit.

An interesting contemporary counterfeit that combines an obverse for Marcus Aurelius with a reverse for Commodus, and the legends on both sides are blundered. Contemporary counterfeits of Roman coins are often hybrids; perhaps counterfeiters did this intentionally to provide themselves with a potential defense that their products were not actually copies of genuine coins. The blundered legends would further support this theory.