Forgery in the context of "Counterfeit"

Epigraphy (from Ancient Greek ἐπιγραφή (epigraphḗ) 'inscription') is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the writing and the writers. Specifically excluded from epigraphy are the historical significance of an epigraph as a document and the artistic value of a literary composition. A person using the methods of epigraphy is called an epigrapher or epigraphist. For example, the Behistun inscription is an official document of the Achaemenid Empire engraved on native rock at a location in Iran. Epigraphists are responsible for reconstructing, translating, and dating the trilingual inscription and finding any relevant circumstances. It is the work of historians, however, to determine and interpret the events recorded by the inscription as document. Often, epigraphy and history are competences practised by the same person. Epigraphy is a primary tool of archaeology when dealing with literate cultures. The US Library of Congress classifies epigraphy as one of the auxiliary sciences of history. Epigraphy also helps identify a forgery: epigraphic evidence formed part of the discussion concerning the James Ossuary.

An epigraph (not to be confused with epigram) is any sort of text, from a single grapheme (such as marks on a pot that abbreviate the name of the merchant who shipped commodities in the pot) to a lengthy document (such as a treatise, a work of literature, or a hagiographic inscription). Epigraphy overlaps other competences such as numismatics or palaeography. When compared to books, most inscriptions are short. The media and the forms of the graphemes are diverse: engravings in stone or metal, scratches on rock, impressions in wax, embossing on cast metal, cameo or intaglio on precious stones, painting on ceramic or in fresco. Typically the material is durable, but the durability might be an accident of circumstance, such as the baking of a clay tablet in a conflagration.

Cast coinage refers to coins made by pouring melted metal into a mold, i.e. casting. 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). The method differs from the current mode of coin production, which is done by striking coin blanks that have been cut out of metal sheets. The method has also been used by forgers.

Traditional Far Eastern cast coins—so-called 'cash coins'—are the most famous example of cast coinage, and were issued from the 4th century BC until c. 1912, predominantly in bronze, brass or iron. 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.

In forensic science, questioned document examination (QDE) is the examination of documents potentially disputed in a court of law. Its primary purpose is to provide evidence about a suspicious or questionable document using scientific processes and methods. Evidence might include alterations, the chain of possession, damage to the document, forgery, origin, authenticity, or other questions that come up when a document is challenged in court.

Sophaenetus (Ancient Greek: Σοφαίνετος, romanized: Sophainetos) was one of the leaders of the Ten Thousand, an army of Greek mercenaries in the service of Cyrus the Younger, in 401–400 BC. A native of Stymphalus, he was an older man when he recruited and led one thousand hoplites to join Cyrus. He led the army back to the Black Sea and from Trapezus to Cerasus by ship. At Cotyora, he was fined 10 minae for mishandling funds.

The main source for Sophaenetus' career is the Anabasis of Xenophon. Writing in the fifth century AD, Stephanus of Byzantium cites on four occasions a certain Anabasis Kyrou written by Sophaenetus. This is generally presumed to be the same person as mentioned by Xenophon. Stephanus cites him for the names of several places in Asia Minor. The Anabasis Kyrou is not attested outside of Stephanus. The lack of any reference to the work for several centuries after it would have been written is a difficult to explain and its authenticity has been questioned. Some modern scholars regard it as a late forgery, composed after the time of Plutarch. Panico Stylianou suggests that it may be a case of mistaken identity. Pieces of advice attributed to Sophaenetus entered the military handbooks and were misunderstood to refer to a book written by him.

The term "white-collar crime" refers to financially motivated, nonviolent or non-directly violent crime committed by individuals, businesses and government professionals. The crimes are believed to be committed by middle- or upper-class individuals for financial gains. It was first defined by the sociologist Edwin Sutherland in 1939 as "a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of their occupation". Typical white-collar crimes could include wage theft, fraud, bribery, Ponzi schemes, insider trading, labor racketeering, embezzlement, cybercrime, copyright infringement, money laundering, identity theft, and forgery. White-collar crime overlaps with corporate crime.

The Donation of Constantine (Latin: Donatio Constantini) is a forged Roman imperial decree by which the 4th-century emperor Constantine the Great supposedly transferred authority over Rome and the western part of the Roman Empire to the Pope. Composed probably in the 8th century, it was used, especially in the 13th century, in support of claims of political authority by the papacy.

In many of the existing manuscripts, including the oldest, the document bears the title Constitutum domini Constantini imperatoris. The Donation of Constantine was included in the 9th-century Pseudo-Isidorean decretals. Lorenzo Valla, an Italian Catholic priest and Renaissance humanist, is credited with first exposing the forgery with solid philological arguments in 1439–1440, although the document's authenticity had been repeatedly contested since 1001.

The Kensington Runestone is a slab of greywacke stone covered in runes that was discovered in Western Minnesota, United States, in 1898. Olof Ohman, a Swedish immigrant, reported that he unearthed it from a field in the largely rural township of Solem in Douglas County. It was later named after the nearest settlement, Kensington.

The inscription purports to be a record left behind by Scandinavian explorers in the 14th century (internally dated to 1362). There has been a drawn-out debate regarding the stone's authenticity, but since the first scientific examination in 1910, the scholarly consensus has classified it as a 19th-century hoax, with some critics directly charging Ohman with fabrication. Nevertheless, there remains a community convinced of the stone's authenticity. The city of Kensington, Minnesota's website claims that the stone is genuine, that there were blue-eyed Blonde Mandan, and that Nicholas of Lynn, who was not an explorer, was the navigator of the Norse expedition.