Forgery from the era

The term "period forgery" or "period copy" can be encountered quite often when dealing with old numismatics. This is a term used for coins that were illegally produced to the detriment of the issuer at a time when legal tender were the corresponding originals issued by a specific ruler, country, principality or region. Typically, these types of coins were made of lower quality metal, i.e. lower purity, or from a completely different metal, e.g. bronze instead of silver.

The history of coin counterfeiting is as long as... the coins themselves. Copying coins is not an invention of modern times, but was an equal or even greater nuisance to ancient rulers. Coin counterfeiters were once prosecuted and punished very severely, but today the coins resulting from their work are sought after by collectors, and their value often exceeds the value of the original coins (!).

One of the most popular "mints" copying Polish, Swedish and Prussian shillings was Suczawa. It is estimated that in total it released about 1 billion pieces of fake coins (!). Here is one of its "products":
This type of historical numismatic curiosities can also be seen in our shop. Just enter the phrase "Forgery from the era" in the search engine.