ANCIENT COINS AND THEIR MODERN FAKES: AN ATTEMPT OF PHYSICO‐CHEMICAL UNMASKING

Abstract

As a consequence of police operations in Messina (Sicily), a huge quantity of perfect imitations of ancient coins, realized by a sicilian forger, has been recently found. Such fakes have been realized by the lost wax casting technique and reproduce coins issued by different authorities in different historical epochs. In order to overcome the obvious subjectivity of the traditional (autoptical) numismatic analysis, which sometime provides contrasting interpretations, five of these fakes have been analysed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersed X‐Ray Fluorescence (EDXRF). The results obtained have given information on the microstructure, the homogeneity and the elemental composition of the alloys used by the forger. Furthermore, evident traces of the chemical treatment utilized for the artificial ageing of the coins have been found. Due to the presumable and dangerous large diffusion of these sicilian fakes in the inter‐ national market, the results of such analyses may certainly be of noticeable interest for Numismatics and forensic applications as well, representing a set of proofs to be used in the unmasking of analogous counterfeiting cases.