"Reid Goldsborough" wrote in message
...
On 5 Nov 2005 04:40:33 -0800, "stonej"
wrote:

http://www.starofmysore.com/main.asp...news&item=1215

This link must have become dated very quickly -- no article returned.
This is an Indian newspaper, so the article no doubt talked about
counterfeits of very early Indian coins. I don't know how it dated
them.

Counterfeiting of coins began when coins began. Counterfeiting existed
before coins as well, with crooks making plated fakes of uninscribed
gold, electrum, and silver bullion ingots.

But there's lots of debate on who minted the first coins. Many Indians
feels the Indians did. Depending on how you define "coin," many
Chinese feel the Chinese did. Some Western scholars agree, many
disagree. I think the Lydians and Chinese came out with the first
coins at about the same time, c. 600 BC, but the Chinese had earlier
cast bronze precoins in the shape of miniature hoes, knives, and so
on.

--

Email: (delete "remove this")

Consumer: http://rg.ancients.info/guide
Connoisseur: http://rg.ancients.info/glom
Counterfeit: http://rg.ancients.info/bogos

According to the book "The Counterfeit Coin Story" counterfeits appeared
very quickly after the first ever coins were produced, there's one
illustrated dated to 600 to 550 B.C. Billy