Then and Now: Counterfeit Currency

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Altering currency has taken many forms throughout history. Counterfeiting is certainly the most well known, though creating a fake coin from scratch isn’t the only way. Anyone can engage in the illicit practice of altering currency—from kings the likes of Eric V of Denmark and Philip the Fair of France, to “average” men and women such as infamous American figures John A. Murrell and Mary Butterworth. Thankfully, it’s a crime that has become much more complicated in recent eras as currency designs have implemented sophisticated anti-counterfeiting measures. But even that hasn’t stopped some people from trying. Early on, the […]

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Footnotes

1. Readers will know the complicated details of the Late Bronze Age collapse. See, e.g., William H. Stiebling, “When Civilization Collapsed,” Archaeology Odyssey, September/October 2001.