Things like coins seems like it they would be easy to create/replicate, especially if they were comprised of non-precious metals. Wouldn't this mean that people would have made fake currency all the time? How can we distinguish counterfeit coins from real coins that we find in field from ancient civilizations?
hi! there's lots of room for more contributions re various cultures & times, but meanwhile, here are some related posts
How were early currencies protected against counterfeiting?
Counterfeiting in the Ancient World?
How where clay tokens used as money to trade?
When were coins with reeded edges first made? Why did they decide to do this?
How did cultures mass produce coins before modern technology?
Alexander the Great’s coins like very many ancient coins were there weight, not what was stamped on the coins, but the weight of the silver was its worth. City officials, Magistrates, would mark symbols and monograms on the coin which would denote whether the coins were intrinsically sound or not. The forgeries more often than not are copper coated in silver and simple test cut would easily resolve them as reals or fakes.
In Rome producing fake money was punishable by death. Also like Greece, the value was intrinsic not face value.
In the ancient world, clipping was also very common and although not ‘counterfeiting’ per se but did lower the value of the coin. Clipping took off very little of the metal around the coin but if done to every coin it adds up. Clipping did have it down sides because as mentioned, the weight was what mattered not the face value.
Anti-counterfeiting "technology"¹ for the early forms of paper currency entailed a very explicit threat, printed on the banknotes, of inflicting bodily harm against convicted counterfeiters. The threats date as far back as the oldest paper banknotes, invented by the Chinese in the Tang and Song dynasties. Paper money circulating during the Ming dynasty would warn that "To counterfeit is death. The informant will receive 250 taels of silver, and in addition the entire property of the criminal." (picture). Printed threats continued into the modern period. In the 18th century, banksnotes in Pennsylvania were adorned with a similar pithy warning that stated "To counterfeit is death" (picture). I strongly recommend listening to the Ming banknote episode of the BBC's A History of the World in 100 Objects, which covers counterfeiting. If you have the spare time, listen to the entire series!
¹I don't know if threatening to kill people qualifies as a technological feature, but let's pretend that it does.
