Lot 4676

Description

Sicily, Akragas, electrotype copy of the decadrachm type by Becker (c.409-406 B.C.), (31.45 g), obv. charioteer driving fast quadriga to left, above, eagle flying left, legend across, rev. two eagles standing left on dead hare lying on rock, one eagle raising its head, the other tearing at hare with beak and raising wings, grasshopper to right, stamped BECKER on edge, (cf.S.749, cf.Hill, Becker 15). Good very fine by Becker.

Ex Walter Holt, November 28, 2008.
Carl Wilhelm Becker (1772-1830) was one of the most prolific and accomplished counterfeiters of the 19th century. As early as 1806 he was engaged in the practice of manufacturing false coins. Becker's death in April 1830 left his family with little money and a quantity of forged coin dies. From these dies, sets of coins were struck in a lead-tin alloy (actually a poor quality pewter) and sold to collectors and institutions. At some point Becker's family sold the dies to the Saalfeld Museum, from whence they finally were given to the Kaiser-Friedrich Museum in Berlin in 1911. Electrotype copies have been produced with Becker's name on the edge in more recent times as is this example