Cast coinage

It has been used for regular coins, particularly in East Asia, but also other areas on a smaller scale (e.g. the ancient Mediterranean world).

Traditional Far Eastern coins were generally cast base metal coins, although silver and gold bars were also manufactured, e.g. Chinese sycee, Japanese obans and kobans, and Vietnamese lang and tien.

[1][2][3] At a point during the first century of the Christian era, cast bronze coins were produced in Dorset with archaeological evidence pointing towards Hengistbury Head as the source.

[4] By AD 200, cast copies of silver denarii were being produced in a number of areas of Britain.

[5] While these may have been straightforward forgeries the context in which some of the moulds have been found suggest there may have been at least some elements of semi officialdom.