Counterfeiting in Ancient Rome

Counterfeit Roman coin discovered nearly 1,700 years after the crime - which was once punishable by crucifixion

Archaeologists have uncovered a crime nearly 1,700 years after it was committed.

A dig has revealed a number of moulds which would have been used to create fake Roman coins – an offence that was punishable by crucifixion.

During a time of crisis in the Western Roman Empire of the 260s, hyper-inflation meant people had to resort to forging coins to keep up with the rising costs.

Official coins were minted rather than moulded. 

So moulds, particularly intact ones like the ones found in Castleford, West Yorkshire, are extraordinarily rare.

But researchers found more than 100 pieces in one pit. 

This means the culprit likely buried the evidence, successfully concealing the crime for well over a millennium.

A dig has revealed a number of moulds which would have been used to create fake Roman coins – an offence that was punishable by crucifixion

The find was revealed on the BBC archaeology series Digging for Britain. 

David Williams, who led the dig, said: ‘There were sanctioned mints and we’re not near one at all.

‘It’s a bit of a mystery really – really unexpected.’

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14294449/I-Fraudius-Roman-coin-conmen-discovered-nearly-1-700-years-committed-crime-punishable-crucifixion.html

Another unique Roman coin found by a metal detector was made by an ancient forger who could not spell and did not know his emperors.

The silver denarius, an average day's pay for a Roman worker, was modelled on coins struck to commemorate the Battle of Actium of 31 BC.

The famous battle saw the combined forces of Roman General Mark Antony and Egyptian Queen Cleopatra defeated by Octavian, who went on to rule as Emperor Augustus.

This silver denarius was made 2,000 years ago but is a fake, with spelling mistakes and even the wrong emperor

Experts said it was made a few years after Actium but was a terrible fake.

One face has a crocodile but it is facing the opposite way to the original.

Emperor Julius Caesar is on the head side, when it should have been Augustus.

And the die cutter misspelled Egypt as Aegipto instead of the common spelling of the time, Aegypto or Aegvpto.

The coin was discovered buried two inches beneath the surface on a grass path near Brighton, East Sussex.

Nothing like it had ever been seen before, pushing up its value from £100 for the average Roman coin to about £3,000.

‘It's fascinating that there were forgers at the time, some, it seems who were not very bright.'

Another one: This is only the second Roman coin ever found featuring the Emperor Proculus. It is estimated to fetch £80,000 at auction, but could go for a lot more. Some experts think it is a forgery

A metal detecting expert, Julian Evan-Hart, believes the coin is genuine and that it was minted to mark the brief rise to power of Proculus in 280AD.

But coin specialist and renowned academic Roger Bland, who is Keeper of the Prehistory and Europe Department of the British Museum, disagrees that the coin is genuine.'

He said: 'I don't believe any coins of Proculus were ever made and this one is probably a 15th century forgery.

'The only source for our knowledge of him is a controversial history book, written at the end of the 4th century AD, much of which was made up.

'It says that there were 30 tyrants who all vied for control of the Roman Empire when things got a bit messy in the late 3rd century AD and lots of people were declared Emperor.

'Many of these 30 tyrants never had coins made, which is a sign of a true Emperor.

'But in the Renaissance, when coin collecting was fashionable, people thought these men should have had coins so they made them.

'This coin has been made from the same dye, or mould, as another in the Munich Museum, which is widely believed to be fake.

'There is no context to this find either - only single coins, not hoards, have been found so their provenance is difficult to assess.

'Unless someone finds a hoard of these coins, I'm going to remain very sceptical that there were ever any coins made for Proculus.'

And another one: A forgotten Roman emperor, Sponsian, has been saved from obscurity, as a coin long thought to be fake has finally been authenticated

A forgotten Roman emperor has been saved from obscurity as a coin long thought to be fake has finally been authenticated.

The coin, unearthed 300 years ago, depicted a leader named Sponsian who was in power during the 260s AD.

It was believed to be a forgery, as it differed from both the manufacture process and general style of Roman coins from the time.

There are no other historical records that Sponsian ever existed, but new analysis suggests the coin is indeed authentic.

The coin comes from a small hoard unearthed in Transylvania in 1713 which found their way into collections around Europe.

Some ended up at The Hunterian museum in Glasgow, where they remained hidden in wooden cabinets until now.

Researchers from University College London closely analysed the coins – three of which depicted other known Roman emperors - using a range of techniques, including light microscopy and ultra-violet imaging.

On the Sponsian coin, they discovered micro-abrasion patterns typically associated with coins that were in circulation for an extensive period of time.

The researchers also analysed earth deposits on the coin, finding evidence that after its use the coin was buried for a prolonged period before being discovered.

Together, the new evidence strongly indicate the coin is authentic, the team said.

They suggest Sponsian was an army commander in the Roman Province of Dacia during a period of military strife during the 260s AD.

Coins have always been an important symbol of power and authority in Rome. 

The researchers suggest Sponsian may have authorised the creation of locally produced coins, some featuring his own image.

Only four coins featuring Sponsian are known to have survived to the present day.

Paul Pearon, lead author of the study, said: 'Scientific analysis of these ultra-rare coins rescues the emperor Sponsian from obscurity.

'Our evidence suggests he ruled Roman Dacia, an isolated gold mining outpost, at a time when the empire was beset by civil wars and the borderlands were overrun by plundering invaders.'

Curator of Numismatics at The Hunterian, Jesper Ericsson, said: 'Not only do we hope that this encourages further debate about Sponsian as a historical figure, but also the investigation of coins relating to him held in other museums across Europe.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-11461067/Ancient-Roman-coin-thought-fake-authenticated-proves-existence-forgotten-leader.html

Another stunning gold coin, genuine, emblazoned with the face of Roman Emperor Allectus - the first Brexiteer, who took Britain out of the Roman Empire in 293 AD - sold for a staggering £550,000.

Known as an Aureus, the 24 carat gold coin has just one matching example in the world which is in the British Museum and is thought to have been worth 25 pure silver dinarii. 

The coin depicts a noble-looking Allectus on one face and on the flip side has two captives kneeling at the feet of Apollo. 

Allectus ruled in Britain and northern Gaul from 293 to 296AD.

He was assassinated in battle in 296AD.  

Workers laying pipes in a southern Spanish park unearthed a 600-kilogram trove of Roman coins

The Romans began to conquer Spain in 218 BC and ruled until the 5th century 

Experts haven't been able to estimate a value for the coins, with Spanish museum staff saying the 600kg of coins - of Maximian and Cosntantine era - have an incalculable value

The coins had probably been stored to pay soldiers or civil servants

Coins, struck circa 330AD, commemorating Constantine the Great establishing the city of Constantinople

A coin featuring Augustus Caesar, with a heifer on the reverse side

Romanian treasure hunter finds what could be oldest forged coins in history

The haul of 309 whole coins and 40 fragments is worth around £120,000, according to currency experts

Each 2,350-year-old silver coin is thought to be worth £400, even though it was made as a forgery

They are forgeries of the ancient Greek Tetradrachm currency, around 2,350 years old, dating back to when King Philip II reigned over the then Ancient Greek Kingdom of Macedon.

Most of the coins show a Greek solider on horseback on one side and a face on the other.

Local historian Viorel Blanaru said: 'They are made of raw silver, quite good workmanship, quite good copies but that's what they are - copies of Greek coins.'

More Ancient Greek coins

A 4th-century copper coin (pictured) from ancient Rome unearthed in Okinawa by researchers excavating Katsuren castle. The first time Roman Empire coins have been discovered in Japan

Minted to celebrate the assassination of Julius Caesar, a 2000-year-old Roman coin sold for 4 million at auction

A Sicily Naxos silver coin, minted around 430 BC, which sold for $293,000

Coin minted between 83-82BC with Antonius Balbus, praetor of Sardinia, on the front 

The back of the Roman coin

A coin from the Greek island of Aegina (pictured) is one of the earliest struck in Europe and features sea turtle, a creature sacred to Aphrodite. Dating from between 600 and 550 BC

A Roman coin from 253AD

3rd World Health Care at National Health Service in UK

The harrowing accounts of Third World scenes experienced by more than 5,000 NHS nursing staff across the UK

More than 5,000 nursing staff across the UK were quizzed on the state of the NHS in their area. 

These are just some of their harrowing responses:

Deaths that went unnoticed

In terrifying testimony to the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) study, one nurse in the South East of England said a patient had lain dead in a corridor 'for hours'.

Another nurse, in Yorkshire and the Humber, said departments were becoming 'overwhelmed' on a daily basis, adding: 'At its worst, (we are) asking someone to go round and make sure people are still alive.'

'Developing world' casualty

Patients dying in chairs and trolleys in corridors was now a familiar occurrence, according to one nurse in the South East.

The nurse added: 'All the fundamentals of care have broken down – we are no better than a developing world casualty.'

A nurse in London said: 'It's awful – it feels like we're living in a Third World country or worse. I dread going into work and wish I'd picked an alternative career.'

Another nurse in the South said: 'I really felt bad for the patients – most of whom were elderly and unable to express their feelings about being cared for in very inhumane and Third World conditions.'

In terrifying testimony to the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) study, one nurse in the South East of England said a patient had lain dead in a corridor 'for hours'. 

Patients dying in chairs and trolleys in corridors was now a familiar occurrence, according to one nurse in the South East. 

'This is worse than Covid...'

A nurse in Scotland said: 'I worked throughout Covid-19 and... this lack of care in the broken system is worse. People are dying as a result of ambulances being held at hospitals and calls are eventually being responded to almost two days after 999 has been called. This has to end, now!'

Left in tears near the toilets

A cancer patient whose immunity was very low because of her treatment was left in a busy spot near a staff room and toilet in a hospital in the South West.

A nurse said: 'She should have been in a side room. She was very upset and crying. We put screens around her but it was constantly busy. That poor lady eventually passed away.'

A nurse in London said: 'The department is over-capacity on a daily basis, leaving patients being cared for in corridors, on chairs when they should be in beds, on ambulance trolleys, in relatives' rooms, in viewing rooms, anywhere there is a space.'

A nurse in the East of England said: 'Patients miscarrying and returning for treatment are being bedded in the busy waiting room which is used for emergency attenders and an outpatient department.'

A cancer patient whose immunity was very low because of her treatment was left in a busy spot near a staff room and toilet in a hospital in the South West. 

Beds in middle of ward bays

A nurse in Scotland said the hospital had started placing beds 'in the middle of bays in the wards in addition to corridor beds for more space'. 

They added: 'It is degrading, undignified, and at times unsafe for patients who are already angry due to the long waits, sometimes waiting in the emergency department for over 35 hours... just to be put in the corridor. The system is broken.'

Delays for heart attack victims

Corridor care also creates problems for patients lucky enough to find a cubicle.

One nurse told of the chaos of patients having cardiac arrests in the corridor, adding: 'Having to roll a trolley through a corridor and the whole department to re-sus straddling a patient doing CPR while everyone watches on. It just feels so undignified.'

Patients in the South East had cardiac arrests in the corridor or in cubicles blocked by patients on trolleys in front of them, delaying lifesaving CPR.

A nurse at a hospital in the area said: 'Despite these events, we still are obliged to deliver care in the corridor.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14289877/harrowing-accounts-scenes-experienced-NHS-nursing-staff-UK.html

Dead patients are lying undiscovered for hours in A&E because NHS staff are too overstretched to notice.

A severe shortage of beds means the sick are being left in 'animal-like' conditions in hospital car parks, cupboards and toilets.

Pregnant women are suffering miscarriages in corridors and the elderly are languishing unaided in soiled bedding.

Patients are cruelly 'stripped of their dignity' and routinely suffering avoidable deaths.

It has become 'normalised' for patients to be left for days at a time in chairs or trolleys in 'inappropriate settings'.

Demoralised nurses report caring for as many as 40 patients in a single corridor – some blocking fire exits or parked next to vending machines.

There, they have no access to a call bell, oxygen or lifesaving equipment and are often out of sight of the nursing station. Some are forced to go to the toilet in view of other patients.

Professor Nicola Ranger, RCN chief executive, described the report as 'harrowing', adding staff were leaving because they 'cannot do it any more'.

She said: 'This devastating testimony from frontline nursing staff shows patients are coming to harm every day, forced to endure unsafe treatment in corridors, toilets, and even rooms usually reserved for families to visit deceased relatives.

'Vulnerable people are being stripped of their dignity and nursing staff are being denied access to vital lifesaving equipment.

'We can now categorically say patients are dying in this situation.'

A survey of NHS nursing staff for the report found 67 per cent are delivering care every day in overcrowded or unsuitable places. Some 91 per cent said the care was unsafe.

One nurse revealed how patients were dying 'on trolleys and chairs in the corridor and waiting rooms'.

Another told how a 90-year-old dementia sufferer was left scared and crying because no one was able to help. 

She added: 'Seeing that lady, frightened and subjected to animal-like conditions is what broke me. At the end of that shift, I handed in my notice with no job to go to.'

Hospitals left a record 518,000 patients languishing on trolleys in A&E for 12 hours or more last year.

Long waits in A&E contributed to 14,000 deaths in 2023. 

'The normalisation of 'corridor care' is an affront in a civilised society and for the sake of the public and staff alike must cease.'

'It's hard to think of a more certain way of both undermining public trust in the NHS and the retention of skilled nurses than tolerating very sick older people being 'stacked up' in passages, as if they were lorries on a motorway.' 

Scotland's hospital wards are suffering a 'devastating collapse'

Patients sleep in beds lining a hospital corridor in an overrun A&E department