As the historians report the coinage offense appeared along with the beginning of coinage stamping. The first counterfeiters illegally stamped the coins of lesser weight. In that way they “spared” such precious metals as gold, silver or platinum.
As the epoch of paper banknotes came the new era of coinage offense broke out. It was characterized by higher amounts of illegally produced currency and larger spread. Coinage offense was typical of both domestic and foreign affairs. There are many examples in the history of the humankind when the large sums of fake money were inserted to the economics of the enemy country before starting aggressive military campaigns. Even the governors couldn’t resist the enticement to become rich by producing the coins and banknotes illegally. For example the British monarch Henry the Sixth used to stamp a whole stock of silver coins in order to enrich his treasury. But these coins were fulfilling their function of exchange for a short time. The protest of the deceived citizens was so powerful that the coinage offense initiated by the king was stopped. The unlucky king was prosecuted.
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