Denier, 19mm, 1.33gr. Obv: RP (for Rex Pepinvs). Rev: PIPI/ .../ NVS. This is a 19th century Becker forgery and it does not match any of the Pepin images in Roberts. The weight is consistent with the upper end of Pepin coins cited in Depeyrot, but heavier than the average. Hill 304.

Carl Wilhelm Becker was born in 1772 and died in 1830. He started his working life as a wine merchant but by 1806 was making copies of rare coins. His copies of Greek coins were intended to be identical to the originals whereas he took greater artistic liberties with his medieval coins. This Pepin le Bref, for example, does not match known Pepin coins. Over the years he sold to museums and collectors, where in some instances people knew they were buying copies and in others not. If there was any doubt in collector's minds, it was dispelled by a warning pamphlet in 1826. This pamphlet states that while Becker said he made coins to help collectors fill voids in their collections, the coins were often sold at rare coin prices, suggesting that there was an intention to defraud.

To get an idea of the spread between his costs and values of authentic coins, he placed a price of about 140 pounds sterling on his set of 296 coins in silver, whereas contemporary prices for the originals would run close to 2700 pounds. The spread was the fraud gain potential. During his life he offered dies to various people but most were in his family when he died. After passing through several hands, most of his dies ended up in the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin in 1911.

This sketch is based on George Hill, Becker the Counterfeiter.

Text and image from Sue Hagadorn (ebay - 5/05) "This coin is a 19th-century forgery of a Carolingian denier of Charles the Bald (le Chauve, AD 840-877). It includes a tag from the Parisian dealer Jules Florange, who died in 1937. The coin of which this is a forgery is Gariel XXI, 22; Depeyrot 1189; MEC 846. Although it's not a particularly good forgery -- it weighs 2.5 grams, instead of the Carolingian standard 1.7 grams, and is fairly obviously cast -- it appears to have fooled Florange."

Denier, 22mm, 1.27gr. Obv: +RICARDVSI, central cross with four besants. Rev: ROTOMANDVS, central temple. The coin to the left is the forgery, I think also 19th century. The coin to the right is a real one. There are significant differences in the lettering. The authentic coin has much stockier lettering and a more robust temple. The forgery has thin lettering and a thin designed temple.