Dr. Ilya Prokopov's Fake Ancient Coin Reports
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Home > Fake Coin Study Images - Learn to Identify Fake Coins > Evidence of Casting

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Evidence of Casting - Pearls917 viewsLucilla AV Aureus, obverse - details of casting.Ilya Prokopov
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Circular holes from air bubbles from casting.941 viewsHadrian Denarius 2.7okidoki
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Evidence of Casting - Filled Ear1605 viewsLost detail, note the ear is filled. The crack is also not completely through the coin or sharp inside.Joe Sermarini
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Evidence of Casting - Casting Sprues1345 viewsSalonina Cast Antoninianus. This coin clearly shows casting sprues. If you had any doubt what those are, it should be clear now!Joe Sermarini
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Evidence of Casting827 viewstypical cast:

very soft details
underweight

Weight : 18.47gr
Size : 29mm
okidoki
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Evidence of Casting - Edge Sharp Rim733 viewsThis edge looks nothing like that on a genuine denarius. Part of the coin's rim has a raised lip that too sharp for a coin with this much apparent wear and corrosion. The raised bump appears to be a casting pearl.
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Evidence of Casting - Uneven and Porous Fields - Tiberius Denarius Tribute Penny Giard Lyon Group 51021 viewsTiberius, 19 August 14 - 16 March 37 A.D., Tribute Penny of Matthew 22:20-21
Silver denarius, Lugdunum mint, 16 - 37 A.D., 3.747 grams, 18.7 mm maximum diameter
RIC I 30, RSC II 16a, SRCV I 1763
Obv: TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AVGVSTVS, laureate head right
Rev: PONTIF MAXIM, Livia seated right holding scepter and branch, legs on chair ornamented, feet on footstool


Small traces of the casting process remain, circled in red, most noticeable on the first I in the obverse legend. The fields are uneven and porous - in green.
Joe Sermarini
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GENUINE - Evidence of Casting - Pits Caused By Fire Damage243 viewsWhen an ancient coin has been burned in a fire, the flan may be warped, have lamination defects (flaking surfaces), and will likely have raised bubbles, and unusual pits. Bubbles are created when small pockets of gas within the flan expand due to the heat. If the top of a bubble breaks off it will leave behind a pit.

Fire damage pits do not look like pits from casting bubbles. On this example the lamination defects within the pits are clearly visible. A casting bubble will not look like this.
Joe Sermarini
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Evidence of Casting - Bubbles on Edge1857 viewsCasting bubbles on edge.1 commentsIlya Prokopov
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Evidence of Casting - Casting Bubbles and Casting Pearls1532 viewsCasting bubbles and casting pearls (or knots) are clearly visible in this photo. Pearls are raised bumps where metal filled the voids from bubbles in a cast mold (in appearance, the opposite of bubbles).Ilya Prokopov
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Evidence of Casting - Wavy Fields605 viewsWavy fields. No genuine coin has fields (flat areas without design) with choppy waves like this coin.
Soapy details. If the coin was a novelty bar of soap made to look like a coin, this is how it would look after washing your hands a few times.
Ilya Prokopov
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Evidence of Casting - Filled Cracks612 viewsThe prototype of this cast fake was also fake (pressed & cracked). The cracks on this cast are filled with metal. The same filled cracks indicator of casting exists when genuine coins with cracks are used to make a mold to cast fakes.Ilya Prokopov
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Circular holes from air bubbles from casting.833 viewsPits (holes) from corrosion are often irregular shapes and are often bunched together, pits from casting than from casting are mainly round. More pitting on one side than the other may be an indication of casting since the side that was up will contain more holes (but it isn't unusual for one side to have more pitting from corrosion too).
Joe Sermarini
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Evidence of Casting - Edge Filing3200 viewsFew examples of edge filing will be this obvious. Often there will be just a small area of filing that the forger missed in his later finer smoothing efforts.
6 commentsJoe Sermarini
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Evidence of Casting - Pearls969 viewsRaised bumps, called pearls, are a common casting flaw.Ilya Prokopov
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Evidence of Casting - Pearls180 viewsReverse silver Roman coin.
The presence of bubbles - a sure sign of casting.
Ilya Prokopov
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Evidence of Casting - Cast Surfaces1467 viewsThere is no mint luster, no sign of metal flow, nor is there any indication of circulation - no small scratches, no wear. Superficially, the surfaces appear to have light corrosion, but it is more regular and invariable than genuine corrosion.
Ilya Prokopov
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Evidence of Casting - Bubbles and Pearls1610 viewsCasting bubbles can resemble pitting from corrosion but they are usually rounder. Pearls are bumps caused by bubbles in the surface of the mold.Ilya Prokopov
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Evidence of Casting - Casting Bubbles1116 viewsThe bubbles here look nothing like pits caused by corrosion. Ilya Prokopov
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Evidence of Casting - Casting Sprue1453 viewsHere we can clearly see remnants from a casting sprue after removal. Most examples will not be this obvious. Ilya Prokopov
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Evidence of Casting - Casting Sprue Before Removal889 viewsThis coin shows the sprue remaining after casting. This was where the melted metal was poured into the mold. Typically, the counterfeiters cut that metal and carefully smooth the edge. When examining a suspected cast fake, look for the spot where the sprue was removed.Ilya Prokopov
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Evidence of Casting - Casting Sprue Before Removal997 viewsCast AR Denarius before cleaning and mask.Ilya Prokopov
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Evidence of Casting - Crude Two Part Cast Example414 viewsCast obverse.
Rough casting the obverse of a coin, the same is done casting and the reverse, then processed to be joined. Result is a fake coin that is glued from two parts.
Julia Mamaea, Augusta (AD 222-235)

This is poor workmanship and the result will be a fairly obvious fake.
Ilya Prokopov
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Evidence of Casting - Area Between Lip and Chin Blends Into the Field1348 viewsThe area between the lip and the chin on genuine coins is often very low relief, just above the surface of the fields. On cast fakes the detail is may be lost and the area may blend into the field. Soft edges between the portrait and the field, and casting flaws are also visible.Ilya Prokopov
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