Silver Plated Stater Spread Tail Contemporary Counterfeit

The Durotriges, occupying what is now Dorset and Somerset, produced a coinage in steady decline — beginning with high-silver alloy staters and progressively debasing the metal until some issues were bronze with little or no silver content at all. This piece sits within that degenerative sequence, but as a plated counterfeit rather than an official debasement, it represents someone exploiting the already-collapsing standard. Whether produced by a local entrepreneur or a competing group passing false coin, plated forgeries of Durotrigan issues circulated alongside genuine debased pieces, often indistinguishably.

The "spread tail" variety is a die-linked subtype within the broader Durotrigan series, placing this forgery close enough to the official type to pass.