Republican Fakes recently acquired

[Gilgamesh]

Below are a total of 30 fake republican denarii I have just deliberately acquired for study. A couple of them have already been outed by Bluefish and photos of single specimens added to the Fakes Report. I have duplicated them below anyway as there are several examples for comparision.

I have added the weight of each piece in order as shown in the images.

I will await guidance from Joe before attempting to add anything to the Fakes Report.

[Gilgamesh]

The first of these I came across initially in July 2004 when I purchased one from a reputable dealer. Two identical pieces were offered within six weeks from UK and USA by reputable dealers who withdrew the items. Those three have been posted in the Fakes Report. These are three new examples.

Publius Plautius Hypsaeus 60B.C. Obv: Bust of LEUCONOE facing right; DOLPHIN behind; P.YPSAE.S.C down, before Rev: JUPITER in QUADRIGA galloping left; CEPIT up, behind; C.YPSAE.COS below; PRIV in exergue Crawford: 420/2a 4.13gms, 4.17gms, 4.00gms

[Gilgamesh]

Lucius lucretius Trio 76B.C. Obv: Radiant head of SOL facing right TRIO within Rev: CRESCENT MOON and seven STARS; L.LUCRETI below 390/1 3.73gms, 3.79gms

[Gilgamesh]

Lucius Papius 79B.C. Obv: Head of JUNO SOSPITA facing right, control-mark behind  Rev: GRYPHON leaping right, control-mark below; L.PAPI in exergue Crawford: 384/1 3.39gms

[Gilgamesh]

Lucius Papius 79B.C. Obv: Head of JUNO SOSPITA facing right, control-mark behind  Rev: GRYPHON leaping right, control-mark below; L.PAPI in exergue Crawford: 384/1 4.15gms, 4.21gms

[Gilgamesh]

Caius Poblicius Malleolus Caius filius 118B.C. Obv: Helmeted head of ROMA facing right; C.MALLE.C.F around; X behind Rev: BITUITUS i BIGA galloping right hurling spear; L.LIC.CN.DOM in exergue Crawford: 282/3 3.66gms, 3.69gms, 3.64gms

[Gilgamesh]

Caius Hosidius Geta Caius filius  68B.C. Obv: Bust of DIANA facing right with BOW and QUIVER over Shoulder; GETA down, before, IIIVIR down, behind Rev: BOAR pierced by SPEAR facing right,  HOUND attacking below; CHOSIDICF in exergue Crawford: 407/2 3.48gms, 3.54gms

[Gilgamesh]

Marcus Herennius 108-107B.C. Obv: Head of PIETY facing right; PIETAS (conj.) behind Rev: One of the CATANAEAN Brothers carrying his Father right;  M.HERENNI down, behind; B down right Crawford: 308/1a 4.53gms, 4.47gms

[Gilgamesh]

Marcus Herennius 108-107B.C. Obv: Head of PIETY facing right; PIETAS (conj.) behind Rev: One of the CATANAEAN Brothers carrying his Father right;  M.HERENNI down, behind; L. down right Crawford: 308/1a 4.04gms, 4.06gms

[Gilgamesh]

Tiberius Claudius Nero Tiberius filius Appius nepos  79B.C. Obv: Bust of DIANA facing right with Bow and Quiver on shoulder; S.C. before Rev: VICTORY in BIGA galoping right holding Wreath; number LXXX beneath; TI.CLAUD.TI.F below; AP.N in exergue 383/1 4.02gms, 3.98gms, 4.06gms

[Gilgamesh]

Cnaius Lucretius Trio 136B.C. Obv: Helmeted head of ROMA facing right; TRIO down, behind; X under chin Rev: The DIOSCURI galloping right; CN.LUCR below; ROMA in exergue Crawford: 237/1 4.06gms, 4.17gms

[Gilgamesh]

Sextus Fompeius (Fostlus) 137B.C. Obv: Helmeted head of ROMA facing right; JUG behind; X below chin Rev: SHEWOLF suckling ROMULUS and REMUS; FOSTULUS left; BIRD on Fig Tree behind; ROMA in exergue; SEX.PO up right. Crawford: 235/1a 4.21gms, 4.32gms, 4.30gms

[Gilgamesh]

Aulus Postumius Albinus Aulus filius Spurius nepos  81B.C. Obv: Draped bust of DIANA facing right; Bow and QUIVER on shoulder; BUCRANIUM above Rev: Togate Figure, ALTER and OX on rock; A.POST.A.F.S.N.ALBIN around Crawford: 372/1 3.41gms, 3.41gms

[Gilgamesh]

Aulus Postumius Albinus Aulus filius Spurius nepos 81B.C. Obv: Draped bust of DIANA facing right; Bow and QUIVER on shoulder; BUCRANIUM above Rev: Togate Figure, ALTER and OX on rock; A.POST.A.F.S.N.ALBIN around Crawford: 372/1 3.85gms

[Gilgamesh]

Lucius Pomponius Cnaius filius 118B.C. Obv: Helmeted head of ROMA facing right; L.POMPONI.CNF around anti-clockwise Rev: BITUITUS in BIGA galloping right hurling spear; L.LIC.CN.DOM in exergue (D reversed). Crawford: 282/4 3.10gms, 3.16gms

[Joe Sermarini]

Excellent additions to the reports, please add them.

[Marius]

Hi Gilgamesh,
Thanks for sharing this information.  Is there any characteristic that struck you, when you first looked at these?  Is there some common characteristic that made you intuitively mistrustful? 
Best regards,
Richard

[slokind]

One little detail: sometimes the TRIO denarii with seven stars are among the coins with a blank field in the center of the flan, so that the compass point for drawing a circle to make the beaded border (when struck making a little nub--there was a thread on this) comes into play.  The coin replicated on Gilgamesh's replicated TRIO denarii display center nubs that are quite plain, as if the artisan who made them agreed with some persons who want to make the nub astrological.  By no means all the TRIO denarii actually have the nubs.
Pat L.

[whitetd49]

Dang!  Do we have any idea of where these came from or how they were made?  Here is a larger picture of example #4 above.  It does not look like a cast.

[Joe Sermarini]

These coins are cast.  We know this because there are completely identical examples.  Struck coins will have greater variations, even fake struck coins.  Some of these coins have passed experienced dealers (but probably because they just didn't examine them closely).  I believe they were initially detected because duplicates were spotted simultaneously for sale.

The bad news is, they are difficult to detect as fakes in photos and even in-hand with only a cursory examination.

The good news is, forgers can’t sell many copies of a cast coin without getting noticed and those of us that use the Fake Coin Reports will be protected after detection. 

[RogerH]

They certainly seem like good casts for sure.  In hand, do you notice any of the obvious casting giveaways?  i.e. Bubbles, seam around the edge of the coin?

Roger

[Gilgamesh]

When I received my first Hypsaeus I was a little suspicious that it was plated but preferred to consider it might be a ancient Fouree. There was some minor sign of bubbles on the obverse cheek. This is not the case with the three new pieces which I doubt I would suspect as single pieces. None of the other pieces show any sign of bubbles.

The other coins were identified by the dealer after I alerted him to the new Hypsaeus copy. He found the others in a large lot he had acquired in San Francisco in August. I arranged to buy them at cost after he showed them to his supplier at the Long Beach show in September.

Studying them, they do not appear to be plated although they must be. As a single piece I would definitely have no suspicions. Quite a concern. I've been collecting and studying roman republicans for 30 years.

The serrati are very good forgeries but I did notice one characteristic which may be useful. On every piece the serrations are very crisp and clean. They look like they were done yesterday, which of course they were. The serrations are not so on any genuine pieces I have or have seen.

I will continue to stare at them all and add any other useful identifying features I find.