Contemporary Imitations

From: Vashisht Vaid
Date: 2000 Aug 2, 8:59am

Can somebody throw some light on the Indian copies of gold venetian
ducats as to which kings issued them and in what part of India,



From: Shailendra Bhandare
Date: 2000 Aug 2, 11:44am

Venetian Ducats were traded to India in large numbers and acquired
status of the accepted currency in the post-Vijayanagar period. This
was mainly due to the fact that after the fall of Vijayanagar, the
issue of gold coins of 3.5 gms reduced drastically, while the demand
for such a denomination was very high. Although various trading
companies struck pagodas corresponding to that weight in large
quantities, there was still space to accomodate these foreign coins of
a comparable weight standard. They soon achieved the status of a
standard Gold currency and the purity of gold in existing coins was
often expressed in terms of Venetian Gold, especially in South India.
I believe no political authority was responsible for their issue in
India, it was entirely through public enterprise.

Another significant aspect about the Venetian coins is that they found
their way in jewelery, particualrly in the Deccan. The mechanism of
how it happened and explanation for why it should have happened, is a
lengthy subject. Typologically, the practice gave rise to several
imitations being manufactured in India, with the characters slowly
getting Indianised. For example, on some issues, the effigy of St.Mark
handing over the Godolfin to a kneeling Doge is replaced by Radha and
Krishna! It is an interesting subject and I did a paper on it for the
last Colloquium at the Nasik Institute. We also have an unpublished
Doctoral Dissertation here in the British Musem on the subject of
Venetian imitations from India. It mainly deals with the subject from
a purely numismatic standpoint, classifying and cataloguing the
varieties.



From: Mobin Ahmed, Islamabad, Pakistan
Date: 2000 Nov 10, 7:28am

During my recent visit to Mardan, I have seen following coins, which
are, although old, but fake of that time:

1. Menander (Made of Copper but covered with silver thin plate)
2. Hepthalite (Large flan)(Copper,  plated with silver)
3. Akbar, the Great (Mughal King)
    (Copper, Mint Delhi, Round full size, but silver plated).

It is held that producing fake coins has been our local tradition
which is current even today.  Has some friend seen/have such fake
coins of other dynasties?

I think that only Sultan Ala uddin Khilji was strong enough to stop
making fake coins.  We, in 21st century, are not enough strong to stop
this practice.

            

From: Alan VanArsdale
Date: 2000 Nov 10, 2:17pm

The practice Mr. Mobin Ahmed refer to is common and known throughout
the ancient World. There are called fourees in classical coins (silver
issues which are instead silver plated, usually on copper or
billon). In some times and places this practice was common, even done
officially by the governments to increase revenue (it could be argued
that today all issuers of coin and paper money do the same, as they do
not issue currency of silver or gold any more, and most currency is
issued at value far over metal content). I doubt any administration
ever eliminated this completely (that is coins issued with less
precious metal content than officially mandated, whether fourees,
debased, with internal plugs, underweight etc. by the intention of the
issuer (that is intentional fraud not accident) whether official,
semiofficial, private or by counterfeiters), though it may have been
very rare in some times and places. Many times complex and often
secret marks have been put on coins, not easily imitated by anyone, so
that those issuing the coins will know their weight and purity by
examination.

These coins are not really fakes, rather they are contemporary
forgeries or even signs of contemporary official corruption. With many
Roman and Greek issues for example, most people consider a fouree to
have the same value as a good silver coin so long as the plate is not
broken in any place. That is one could determine by density it is a
fouree, but the value of the silver does not make the value of the
coin, rather the style, condition and strike determine the value in
many cases.

As to the reputation for the manufacture of forgeries in Pakistan I am
afraid that this reputation is not so good, that is Pakistan is not
known for great talent or abundance in the manufacture of forgeries of
ancient coins. From what I hear and see nations like Syria, England,
and Bulgaria can take greater pride in the skill and volume of work in
those nations regarding the forgery of ancient coins. Personally I do
not see it as a matter of national pride about the making of
forgeries, one way or the other. In all nations ancient coins are
found or at least traded, and all nations contain dishonest people who
will try to profit by imitating ancient coins and selling them as old
(whether poor quality copies for sale to tourists, or advanced copies
for sale in major auction houses). To me modern forgeries of ancient
coins are part of a long and unbroken tradition, and the study of
modern forgeries (modern being from about the 17th century AD), is
just another branch of numismatics, and as valid a study as any (and
commercially a very important study).