Hungarian Counterfeit in England

[John Conduitt]

This coin looks very much like the sort of thing that was coming out of early Habsburg Hungary under Maximilian I or Ferdinand I. But it isn't, or it would have the king's name at the start of the legend around the shield. Instead, the legends are blundered and the date appears to be 5555. I presume, therefore, it's counterfeit. The real denars are small, so the differences wouldn't notice.

It seems there were a lot of counterfeits of this coin. They were given a silver wash, and this one looked good enough to make it all the way across the Channel.

Hungarian Counterfeit Denar, 1500s

Base metal, silver washed, 15mm, 0.49g. Crowned Madonna with child in her right arm divides mintmark; K B; PATRON . * . NGRAIE (instead of PATRONA. VNGARIE). Hungarian coat of arms (curved shield); . D . G . E . R . A . H . V G H I V . A . I (cf ÉH 745/8 Ferdinand I; MB 212 Maximilian). Found Shropshire, England.

Perhaps it was the poor quality of the local coinage from Henry VIII's time until Elizabeth I's that meant foreign silver like this was accepted in England, even when it wasn't silver. This billon Spanish Blanca is from a similar time - despite featuring the monograms of Ferdinand V and Isabella I, sponsors of Columbus, the coins continued to be struck long after their reign. Rather than voyaging to America, it too ended up being spent and lost in England.

Ferdinand V and Isabella I Blanca, 1497-1566

Casa Vieja de Segovia. Billon, 18mm, 0.84g. Crowned Y monogram of Isabella I of Castile; pellet in left field, A in right field, castle below Y; + REX : ET : REGINA : CAST : LEGI (King and queen of Castile and Leon and Aragon and Sicily and Granada). Crowned F monogram of Ferdinand V of Aragon; pellets in left and right fields and below F; + FERNANDVS · ET · ELISABET · (Calico e Trigo 625). Found Digby, Lincolnshire, England.

Edited February 14 by John Conduitt

[JeandAcre]

@John Conduitt, it would be really illuminating (for me) to find out more about how many kinds of foreign coinage were circulating in England from later medieval to Tudor times, and in what quantities.  Anecdotally, I've heard of Venetian minors, c. 14th century, routinely passing as farthings.  ...Could some of the counterfeits even have been domestic?  Likely not, since counterfeiting of English coins was an ongoing cottage industry.

[John Conduitt]

On 2/15/2023 at 12:11 AM, JeandAcre said:

@John Conduitt, it would be really illuminating (for me) to find out more about how many kinds of foreign coinage were circulating in England from later medieval to Tudor times, and in what quantities.  Anecdotally, I've heard of Venetian minors, c. 14th century, routinely passing as farthings.  ...Could some of the counterfeits even have been domestic?  Likely not, since counterfeiting of English coins was an ongoing cottage industry.

Yes galley halfpennies were very common. If you search the PAS database for 'soldino' there are over 1300 records, the same as you get for 'Henry VI penny'. But you don't get much for 'denar' or 'blanca'. I don't know if that's because they weren't used much, or don't get reported.

Here are a few counts. They include fractions and multiples. They also include coin weights, although those suggest foreign coins were brought to England on a regular basis. Whether they actually circulated, I don't know.

I can find about 5,400 foreign coins out of 150,000 medieval coins on the PAS database (4%). By far the most common are soldinos. Since the patard was made legal tender in England in 1469 and there are 274 of those, anything around that number must surely have circulated. It's interesting that coins like duits and liards were fairly common, given they're copper. Perhaps some were used as jetons.

Soldino - 1,339 (25%)
Reales - 903 (17%)
Sterling Imitation/Esterlin - 401 (7%)
Ecu - 301 (6%)
Denier - 283 (5%)
Patard - 274 (5%)
Duit - 251 (5%)
Tournois - 246 (5%)
Maravedi - 240 (4%)
Sol - 202 (4%)
Escudo - 97 (many coin weights) (2%)
Liard - 94 (2%)
Pfennig/Penning/Weisspfennig - 82 (2%)
Douzain - 68 (1%)
Pistole - 56 (all coin weights) (1%)
Ducat/Ducato/Ducaton/Ducatone - 48 (1%)
Skilling - 42 (1%)
Thaler/Taller/Tallero - 39 (1%)
Others - 436 (8%)

Edited February 16 by John Conduitt

[JeandAcre]

Many thanks for all of this, @John Conduitt, starting with your clarification of soldino /halfpennies.  The scale of this is surprising.  England during this phase starts to evoke the American Colonies during the 18th century!

[JeandAcre]

...While I'm thinking about it, @John Conduitt, could you elaborate on the relationship, existent or not, between the PAS and the UKDFD?  I'm a fan of both; they seem to be on a par for ethics and methodology.  But I have no idea of their precise origins or how they interact, excepting speculation from an ocean and a continent away.  You would get points for expansiveness!  Apart from my own gratitude, it's easy to imagine that this would be useful information for lots of people.

[John Conduitt]

18 hours ago, JeandAcre said:

...While I'm thinking about it, @John Conduitt, could you elaborate on the relationship, existent or not, between the PAS and the UKDFD?  I'm a fan of both; they seem to be on a par for ethics and methodology.  But I have no idea of their precise origins or how they interact, excepting speculation from an ocean and a continent away.  You would get points for expansiveness!  Apart from my own gratitude, it's easy to imagine that this would be useful information for lots of people.

I don't think there is a link. They're both voluntary databases for recording finds. But the Portable Antiquities Scheme is managed by the British Museum, who are part of the official route for declaring treasure. It has 1.5m records. UKDFD is a private organisation for metal detectorists, with membership fees, and subsequently far fewer records. A lot of finds would be on both. There are other databases for people to record finds, like the Fitzwilliam's EMC, but this is now added to PAS.

[JeandAcre]

Many thanks for this!  I had no idea that the UKDFD was entirely private.  It's good to know that the Fitzwilliam's EMC is part of the PAS.  That used to be another go-to site, during the first pitch of my active collecting of English hammered, before prices became what they have since.