Discovery of the different Roman counterfeit molds

After the long article talking about astronomy on ancient coins, i continue with this one, shorter but obviously interesting. No many things are said about the molds created by the ancient forgers. However, they allow us to learn about the technics used, but also, as you will see, on the extent of the circulation of coins at this period.

In ancient times, official cast coins were created, for example in Rome and among the Gallic people. Among the Gallics, we see on some samll bronzes coins, a rest of the pouring channel. Imagine a kind of plate with channels coming to connect each circular space (where the future coins are) to permit to the metal to reach each orifice. It's the same principle that is used below:

Photo of a mold sold by Classical Numismatic Group, link to the sale and their website: https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=324153. (the result of the molding is visible below the mold).

The counterfeiter drove coins into the clay and then stacked these molds one on top of the other. This is why we see one side of a coin and that of another. Depending on the direction of the stacks, we have molds displaying one obverse and one reverse, two obverses or two reverses. On his website, Warren Esty shows us what the order of these molds he studied should have been:

Photo coming from: http://esty.ancients.info/numis/molds.html.

The consequence of this technic is that the molds above and below are with only one printed side. Like this one:

Photo coming from: http://esty.ancients.info/numis/molds.html.

The molds presented are in terracotta but there are lead like this one below:

Photo of a mold sold by Classical Numismatic Group, link to the sale and their website: https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=389004.

This is the mold that caught my attention, here's why. The legends are: A/ IMP MAXENTIVS P F AVG, R/ SOLI INVI - CTO COMITI.

Classical Numismatic Group notes the LVG mark which is actually PLG and F / T in the field, which I think is rather T / F since we see a second bar on the right which gives the letter F and not T. Mint of Lugdunum for the reverse. The end of the obverse legend should probably be that noted. The obverse legend without the C, (IMP C MAXENTIVS P F AVG is the most common), is rarer and is found for AEs, mainly in certain mints (Carthago, Ostia, Roma, Ticinium, Trier). We can already remove Ostia and Trier from the list because the associated busts does not match. For Roma, only one coin capable of displaying this bust with this legend is described. Which makes it a rarity. We can therefore largely think that the obverse used comes from Carthago or Ticinium. The style of the bust corresponding to these mints.

According to what I have just developed, I think this mold is really interesting, given the fact that it combines two coins coming for one from Lugdunum and for the other from a probably oriental mint. This already shows the extent of the circulation of coins at this time. All the other molds I have seen, however, always combine nearby mints.

We saw the molds that we meet most often. Here is now a more original mold. It is very wide: 49.00 x 47.00 mm for 5.00 mm thickness. Two large plates, each printed with one side of the same coin, come nested one above the other. The upper part of the obverse mold is hollow and that of the reverse mold, in relief. This allowed the two plates to be nested. The two plates are hollowed out at 6 o'clock, in order to be able to inject the molten metal. Here are these two plates:

Photo from a sale of Classical Numismatic Group, link to the sale and their website: https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=365757.

Finally, the object below is a kind of relief matrix, probably allowing to print the molds

Photo from a sale of Classical Numismatic Group, link to the sale and their website: https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=192898.