I must confess that I might have preferred to remain in the dark about this. However, although it is very worrying, I think it is useful to know all these things.
Now I'll explain some quirks that I've seen at
auction.
Like the two coins i post here, both from
Sicily: Alaisa and Lipara. (the one from Alaisa was object of a past discussion on this
forvm, but I can't find it, probably has been removed).
Looking at the reports of the Department of Culture, I think we can deduce the way in which the counterfeiters work:
First, they chose the coin to forge, they make casts, and create the fake die from a raw die.
Then they heat a genuine ancient coin, a specimen in very
poor condition. (1696
Ancient coins in the report). So we can explain the orange peel look of the coins. On the heated ancient blank they mint the fake
type using the modern die.
So the metal looks ancient, but the coin is a modern fake.
At the end they use the oxidation block to produce the fake
patina, which is tipically green.
And at the end the unaware collector can go to hell, with
his empty wallet, getting excited holding in
his hands a beautiful fake
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