So I was advised to post here...

[David S3]

...wondering what the custom is.  A couple months ago I purchased a silver Byzantine milliaresion from our local coin store - paid around $240, the coin was in excellent condition. Sent it in to NGC along with a bunch of other coins for grading and they did NOT grade this coin, sending it back with an "Authenticity Unverifiable" note and no additional information. Have never had this happen before and wondering what to do - if they had returned it as "definitely a modern replica", I would certainly take it back to our LCS (which is quite a knowledgeable and reputable shop), which didn't sell it to me as a replica and see what they had to say. With "authenticity unverifiable"... I don't know.

Also worth noting that when I looked the coin up I don't think I could find one with the same text on the back - this text reads "ROMANO XRISTOFOR CECOHSTAH EHXWEVSDE b'bASIL'A'"

Photos:

[LINKS REMOVED BY ADMIN]

[Vladislav D]

Welcome to FORUM   !
Constantine VII, Romanus I and Christopher. 920-944 AD. AR Miliaresion
SBCV 1754
legend in five lines
+ROMAnO/ XPISTOFOR /CECOhSTAh / EhWEVSE/bASILR
But I can't say anything about authenticity .
Size/weight ?
You should upload your photos to the forum website and not link to outside servers , this is so the image remains as a reference for future readers .
Regards ,
Vlad .

[Obryzum]

Nothing jumps out to me as particularly suspicious.  Too bad they did not say more about their reasons. 

[vercingetorix]

I don't see any obvious reasons to call it a forgery but without inspecting the coin directly it is hard to say for sure.

[Joe Sermarini]

If NGC could not authenticate it or condemn it in hand, we are not going to be able to do either with a photo.

[bpmurphy]

David,

I remember your coin.

There is quite a bit of fake Byzantine silver around these days. Your coin fell into a gray area where there were certain aspects of the coin that looked OK, and certain aspects that looked suspicious. The coin wasn't cast, the edge looked fairly normal, but the metal quality was different than these normally appear, with the surfaces being unusually smooth and flat.

When you get a coin back as UV (Authenticity unverifiable) that doesn't necessarily mean the coin is fake, it means that there is nothing we can sink our teeth into to give our opinion that the coin is genuine and likewise nothing to confirm that the coin was a counterfeit.

Barry Murphy