So, we have a forged talisman based on a possibly
forged book? There was a story by Michael Innes I
I read a long time ago, about a man who collected
forged poems by a famous forger, and found he had
been sold a forged forgery.
Was "Michael Innes" a pseudonym? :-)
All this brings to (my) mind Caterina Sforza's recipe for "alter[ing] the
metallic content of the florin without qualms of conscience". I wonder if
there are numismatists who specialise in collecting deliberately debased
coinage? (There almost certainly must be!)
Imagine their horror if they found that they had been sold a real coin! :-)
Also note that, according to this history of coin collecting...