The Infamous Tripoli Bohemond VII Gros Modern Forgery

The Infamous Tripoli Bohemond VII Gros Modern Forgery By Paul A. Torongo © 2019 A genuine gros of Bohemond VII of Tripoli Metcalf 497-499 [1] + SePTIMVS q BoeMVNDVS q CoMeS + CIVITAS q TRIPoLIS q SYRIe The coin shown above is a genuine, 13th century gros from the County of Tripoli, struck for Bohemond VII (1275-1281). In my 2013 book on collecting medieval coins, I described a modern forgery of a medieval coin from the County of Tripoli in the Crusader states, purporting to be such a gros (ref 2, pp. 127-129, fig. 6.6): Specimen A / 5.91 g. Torongo 6.6 [2] 1 To this day, slightly different versions of this modern counterfeit continue to make the rounds in the numismatic marketplace, often being sold as a genuine coin, or as “a forgery?”. Some of the coins are “better” than others (i.e. “more convincing”), while others are crude and obvious fakes. This counterfeit type is perhaps the most common (and insidious) false coin on the market today. A quick Internet check on this date revealed 2 examples currently for sale, one for $65 and the other for $395 (not listed as being non-genuine coins). The example shown on the previous page (Specimen A) has an edge that clearly indicates its illicit origin: The forgeries can easily be identified from a number of characteristics, including: Specimen A Obverse: – the crescent at 9:00 is fused to the surrounding pellet ring – the crescent at 5:00 has a break near the left edge – the pellet row under the 5:00 crescent has a break in it Reverse: – the crescent ends at 10:00 & 11:00 touch the top, left corner of the central building – the crescent ends at 7:00 & 8:00 touch the bottom, left corner of the central building – the pellet ring by the crescent at 8:00 has a gap or weak spot in it, 2 This first step to identifying one of these counterfeits is to check where the bottom corners of the central (reverse) building land; if they are in the middles of crescents, then the piece is not one of the infamous counterfeits. The general patterns of the crescents (obverse and reverse) on the genuine coins are as follows: Most of the genuine coins have these crescent patterns. The counterfeits, however, have a pattern that is slightly “off” from this. 3 There are a number of other minor similarities between the counterfeits as well. 3 different specimens with the identical L and weak pellet-ring area. Some Other Examples We Have Found Specimen B 4 Specimen C Specimen D Specimen E 5 Specimen F Specimen G (note the date) (no reverse photo available) Specimen H 6 Specimen I Specimen J (no obverse photo available) listed on eBay as a “base gros” Specimen K clearly a forgery 7 Specimen L / CGB fre-308120 listed as a 1970 forgery and sold for € 150 (!) Specimen M Even this crude version has some of the same characteristics as the others Specimen N 8 Specimen O Specimen P We have heard that these pieces are in fact tourist replicas from Syria, or that they are part of a set of replicas that were “mailed out as a promotion”. One vendor claimed to have had such a piece in his collection for over 20 years. The metal from which these pieces are made is often clearly not silver. Although a fairly subjective statement: they “look like counterfeits”. We wonder how many of these pieces have a split edge like Specimen A… 9 The Real Coins Perhaps the strangest thing about these forgeries is that fact that there seems to be genuine (?) coins with the very same identifying characteristics as the forgeries (!). Elsen 126-462 Elsen 126-462 Is this the “model coin” for the counterfeits? 10 Conclusion Many examples of this type of Bohemond VII forgery have come to light over the years, but they are not particularly hard to identify, and inadvertently purchasing such a counterfeit can be easily avoided if one only inspects the coin closely. If you see a specimen where the left corners of the central building meet the ends of the crescents from the surrounding multifoil, then there is a good chance that the piece is not genuine, and you may want to look for the other identifying marks listed above (e.g. the fused crescent at 9:00 on the cross face). A close inspection of the metal may be necessary as well. The author would very much like to thank: CGB France, Jean Elsen et ses fils S.A., Raymond van Oosterhout, Marcus Phillips, G. Andy Singer, MPO/Heritage Auctions, Susan TylerSmith, and various individual collectors. 11 Literature [1] Coinage of the Crusades and the Latin East in the Ashmolean Museum Oxford, D. M. Metcalf Royal Numismatic Society London, 1995 (2nd edition) ISBN 1-85444-062-4 [2] Collecting Medieval Coins: A Beginner's Guide Paul A. Torongo 2013 ISBN 978-1492172024 12