4,000 Years of Faking Money — and the Weak Point Every Forger Found

Gold can be weighed, locked up and counted. What keeps getting stolen is the thing a coin cannot carry on its own: the belief that it is what it says it is. This is the story of five attacks on that belief, and of how the target climbed one step higher each time. 00:00 — The question 00:38 — I. The Merchant · Ea-nasir, Ur, c.1750 BC 01:40 — II. The State · Rome's silver, and Kipper und Wipper 02:46 — III. The Mint · Potosí, 1648 04:50 — IV. The Forger and the Scientist · Newton vs. Chaloner, London 1696–99 05:04 — V. The Press · Alves Reis and the Bank of Portugal, 1925 06:08 — Why the institutions exist Sources and notes: Nanni's complaint tablet is BM 131236 in the British Museum. Roman silver content figures follow standard metallurgical surveys of the denarius and antoninianus. The Potosí investigation was led by Francisco de Nestares Marín from 1648; Francisco Gómez de la Rocha was executed in 1650 and the coinage redesigned in 1652. Newton was Warden of the Mint — not yet Master — during the Chaloner case; Chaloner was hanged at Tyburn on 22 March 1699. The Portuguese notes of 1925 were printed by Waterlow and Sons on genuine plates with duplicated serial numbers, which is how the fraud was found. A Repeat Offenders episode from Before the Bank. 🔔 Subscribe: @beforethebank #History #MoneyHistory #Counterfeiting #Newton #EconomicHistory