Gold Plated Stater - Dubnovellaunos Dubnovellaunos Branch Contemporary Counterfeit

Contemporary counterfeits of Dubnovellaunos staters were not crude forgeries made for deception in any modern sense — they circulated alongside genuine issues and were accepted as currency, suggesting the core metal may have mattered less than the type itself in local exchange. The gold-plated bronze construction points to a knowingly debased production, likely by a smith operating outside the tribal mint but familiar enough with the prototype to copy it convincingly. Whether this represents private enterprise or something sanctioned closer to the issuing authority is unresolved. The ABC and Van Arsdell references carry "cf." qualifiers precisely because the counterfeit series resists clean typological classification.