Alongside an impressive array of genuine antique coins in the Hermitage numismatic collection, standing apart is the collection of counterfeit coins and numbering over 3,5 thousand items. They include examples imitating with high accuracy the coin types of Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome and the Byzantine Empire, as well as mixed types and forgeries that bear no relation to coin types that existed in the past.
Of special note are the collection’s antiquarian forgeries remarkable for their high artistic merit – totalling 300 items – produced by the unrivalled counterfeiter of ancient coins Carl Wilhelm Becker (1772–1830). In addition, the collection includes works by 16th century Italian counterfeiters and creations by domestic forgers M. Sazonov, Buksil, Sh. Gokhman, as well as others working predominantly in the south of Russia (Кеrch, Оdessa, Rоstov-on-Don).
Numbering over 1,1 thousand items, the collection of the 10th to 20th century counterfeit Russian coins and their antiquarian forgeries executed in such various techniques as metal casting, etching, engraving, embossing and electroplating is highly representative.
Despite the fact that on the face of it the given objects present no interest to the museum, they are undoubtedly of great practical value playing the role of a kind of “standard” in the process of numismatic material’s attribution.
Standing apart is the collection of restrikes of old Russian coins numbering approximately 1,5 thousand items.
Novodels (restrikes) represent a special kind of counterfeit collectors’coins produced on commissions from collectors at the national mints from the second half of the 18th century till the late 19th century. Whether made with genuine or new dies, they are in most cases easy to identify because their coin metal or milled edge do not conform to respective metrological standards. By the late 19th century the most important Russian collectors became aware of the harm inflicted on numismatic and historical studies by the official practice of manufacturing restrikes. At the insistence of Grand Duke Georgy Mikhailovich, production of modern replicas in Russia was banned.
