Gilt Fourrée Argenteus

375, Lot: 712. Estimate $150. Sold for $680. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Maximianus. First reign, AD 286-305. Gilt Fourrée Argenteus (19mm, 3.09 g, 6h). Antioch mint. 7th emission, circa AD 298. Laureate head right / VIRTVS MILITVM, three-turreted camp gate without doors; *ANTH*. Cf. RIC VI 42b; cf. RSC 627k. VF, plating broken.

A fascinating ancient counterfeit where the forger first attempted to make a silver fourrée copy of an argenteus (a layer of silver is visible in a couple of places over the bronze core), and then either the same forger, or another individual, gold-plated the coin in an attempt to pass it off as an aureus.