Silver Plated Unit Cotswold Eagle / Corio Head Type Class B Contemporary Counterfeit

Contemporary counterfeits of Dobunnic coinage are not forgeries in the modern criminal sense — they were produced locally, circulating alongside official issues in a society where the distinction between authorized and unauthorized striking was largely meaningless. This example imitates the Corio Head / Cotswold Eagle type associated with the northern Dobunni, a series conventionally attributed to the chieftain Corio. The silver plating over a bronze core was a deliberate production choice, not a botched attempt at passing base metal for silver; plated pieces of this class are well-documented and appear in hoards alongside their solid silver counterparts.

At under a gram, the weight loss from core oxidation and plating separation is characteristic of the type.