Dr. Ilya Prokopov's Fake Ancient Coin Reports
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Home > Fake Coin Reports > Fake Ancient Greek Coins: Archaic and Classical

Most viewed - Fake Ancient Greek Coins: Archaic and Classical
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Athens, silver tetradrachm, old style, #D787 viewsFor sale on eBay 11/13/2004 by Toronto Group, ID priapuslarge.
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Abdera, silver tetradrachm786 viewsObv: ABΔH, Griffin to the left seated before him a bee
Rev: EΠIΦΙΛAΔOΣ, Herakles seated on rock left, holding club and lion-skin. Whole in incuse square
Ref: AMNG II, 1, p. 73, no. 106, May 396 A277/P322

Sold on ebay September 2006 for $990.

Submitted by Maridvnvm
maridvnvm
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Aigina, Aegina, silver drachm751 viewsAR drachm, 404-340 BC
Obv: Land tortoise, head turned, seen from above. A to left, I to right.
Rev: Rev: "Skew" patterned incuse square with A - IΓΙ in two upper divisions and dolphin in lower rectangular division
Date: After 404 BC
Ref: SNG Copenhagen 524; Sear 2606

Silver .999. Sold as reproduction. Picture courtesy of Pavel at Antiquanova.

Submitted by Bluefish
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Athens, silver tetradrachm, old style, #E744 viewsSold by ebay seller courtney1rox. "Modern Forgeries of Greek and Roman Coins," Dimitrov, et al, Sofia, 1997, pg 12, #13

Athena appears to have a masculine sideburn instead of just a loop of hair. Feathers on the owl are wrong.
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Athens, silver tetradrachm, old style729 viewsAR tetradrachm, one inch, 16.2g

Fake "dirt" patina with fingerprints
Typical "test cut" through owl
"Theta" missing dot
Sold Oct 2005 at auction by known fake seller bidancient / EFTIS as genuine
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Kroisos, Lydia718 viewsAR half-stater
Time of Kroisos
Foreparts of lion right and bull left, face to face / oblong punch divided into two squares; the largest, on same side as lion, is deeper
Sear 3420

For sale on eBay 11/13/2004 by Toronto Group, ID priapuslarge.
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Athens, silver tetradrachm, old style711 viewsModern copy offered on Ebay.
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Athens, silver tetradrachm, old style, #B708 views Attica Athena & Owl (AOE) (AR) Tetradrachm

Obverse: Athena wearing Crested Helmet with Floral Scroll & earring.
Reverse: Athenian Owl, facing, AOE & Olive branch & crescent (in incuse square).

Sold as Pewter/Tin Reproduction on eBay by seller, nt_ancients
No note regarding ‘C’ or ‘R’ or other ‘Copy’ device on the coin. Whether present on coin or not, is unspecified.

Submitted by Tiathena
Tiathena
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Athens, silver tetradrachm, old style700 viewsLipanoff - Athens silver tet, 14.6g, 24mm
Lipanoff, page 11, plate 1
Eyes on both Athena and the owl are far off from the genuine style
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Corinth Colony, Akarnania, Argos Amphilochikon, silver stater, #B695 viewsAR stater, 350-250 BC
Pegasos flying left, A beneath / Head of Athena left, wearing Corinthian helmet over a leather cap, A behind
Sear 2258var

Sold on Ebay as authentic by "cnsprty". Suspected Toronto Group forgery.

Submitted by Bluefish
Bluefish
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Athens, silver drachm673 viewsCast
Size 18mm, Weight 9gm. Sunken reverse and with overall softness on all details.
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Ainos, bronze672 viewsBronze Heracles / goat standing left, rhyton to left, AIN and star above
A Bulgarian or Turkish bronze fake of tetradrachm / diobol: diademed head of Zeus / goat standing left, SNG 0101a0139 of Aenos.
The original type of coin also has the goat standing left although most stand to right, I was unable to find an original with a star above. Also there is usually more letters for Aenos than simply AIN. The bust and diadem is very poorly executed.
The reverse has possibly been reversed for the fake (if they used a "goat standing right" type to make the fake, in order to get round laws forbidding the copying of genuine coins (if it's reversed, it's not a copy of a genuine coin, see?)
Bought as genuine by a friend on holiday in Turkey.
helvetica
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Aigina, Aegina, silver stater656 views510-490 B.C., 11.40 gm, Dangerous Cast Fake

Two different ebay sellers, one in China, one in NY but Chinese. The buyer of one of these coins reports: Note that the tortoise is offset identically, and the small chip at the 5:00 position on both coins. Also, the flan shape is also identical. These 2 coins are identical in every way, proving that they are cast fakes made from the same mold. My coin weighs 11.5gm. I must admit that this coin is a very high quality forgery, as it doesn't show the usual obvious casting pits or blisters and even shows what appears to be the stretch marks made when struck in a set of dies on the tortoise side. Also, the edge doesn't show any signs of being cast.
Joe Sermarini
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Aigina, Aegina, silver drachm, tourist fake630 viewsAR drachm-sized, 16mm
Purchaced while visiting Greece 2001
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Athens, silver tetradrachm, old style, #B626 viewsListed on Ebay by the seller "antiquenovacoins" as a reproduction. Seller location - Richmond, TX.

"Sigma" or "S" marks on most of these coins...apparently to denote their being modern reproductions.
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Pantikapaion, Thrace, Black Sea Area593 viewsAV stater, cast in silver, 19-20mm, 3.9g
Imitating AV stater, Sear 1692
Prokopov, Modern Counterfeits..., 2003, #1 (Slavey)
A cast fake. The flat spot at 5 o'clock would be where it was cut, and the edge of the coin appears to have a filed look to it, along with casting pits. "The Panticapaeum is definitely fake."
-LW
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Athens, silver tetradrachm, old style, #C Met593 viewsObv: Head of Athena, right, wearing crested helmet ornamented with three olive leaves and flora.
Rev: Owl standing, right, head facing, to right AOE; to left olive twig and crescent moon, all within incuse square.

Identified in Forvm discussion by Curtis Clay as a Metropolitan Museum of Art reproduction. This was confirmed by Reid Goldsborough, who commented: "This is indeed one of the unmarked replicas sold by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in large numbers in the 1950s and 1960s. All of these have the same flan shape, the same edge cut, the same central dimple, the same styling, the same weight (9.6g, way underweight), and are cast and made of silver-plated brass."
postvmvs
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Abdera (thrace), AR Tetradrachm, ca 450 B.C.588 viewsObv:- Griffin seated left with right forepaw raised
Rev:- City's name around quadripartitie square; all within an incuse square.

A very free adaptation of May's Group III. The obverse should have a symbol to the left of the Griffin though the serious mistake is the ethnic on the reverse. Abdera never displayed the city name in the way it was done at Akanthos from where this reverse was clearly copied. On coins from Abdera we find magistrates' names instead.

Part of a group of counterfeits that appeared in the catalog of an American specialist in US coins..The coins were all struck from modern dies.

Published in the IAPN BOC Vol 16, No. 1 in 1991 - Example 2
Image used with permission of IAPN
maridvnvm
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Athens, Attica, Tetradrachm, Athena and Owl581 viewsObv: Head of Athena, right, wearing crested helmet ornamented with three olive leaves and flora.
Rev: Owl standing, right, head facing, to right AOE; to left olive twig and crescent moon
Fig 10a is the false coin - 16.88g
Fig 10b is genuine from Bank Leu 52, 1991, Lot 73 - 17.01g

This coin is part of what IAPN/BOC coined as the British Museum Forgers (BMF) production. These are coins based on electrotypes of coins from the British Museum (BM) that have been used to create new dies that have been enhanced in various ways. These coins are considered dangerous counterfeits and caused a lot of embarrassment amongst dealers in the mid-late 1980s when they made it through onto the market.

Whilst being dangerous they all share certain characteristics:-
a) the relief on the coin type is much more rounded and fuller than on the original coin and is often higher
b) many of the coins show no sign of any real wear but lack sharpness giving the impression of being weakly struck
c) the coin is known in an example from the same dies in the BM collection
d) the coin differs in very small ways and these changes are areas of either wear or damage on the BM coin
e) the area of join between the coin type and the flan is never really sharp
f) on gold coins the fields tend to be perfectly flat with some wavyness or convexity on the reverse. The surfaces are so perfect they look like melted chocolate
g) the pattern of wear makes no sense with very clear details on areas which are higher in relief than more flat or worn ones

A very successful forgery seemingly using the Leu coin as the model. The primary differences when looking at the coins side by side is the metal with the false coin having a smooth, velvety flan with no real metal faults at all whereas the origin has minor imperfections from minting.

Published in the IAPN BOC Vol 17, No. 1 in 1992 - Example 10
Image used with permission of IAPN
maridvnvm
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Akragas, gold diobol, #A580 viewsAV diobol, 413-406 BC
OBV: Eagle w. closed wings, standing on rock with two pellets attacking serpent. AKPA above.
Rev: Crab. In exe: ΣILA NIΩΣ.
Sear 748
Gold .986 Sold as reproduction. Picture courtesy of Pavel at Aquanova
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Abdera - 473BC – 448BC Silver Tetradrachm570 viewsStruck copy, .999 Silver, 17.05 gr. Bought in 2006 on Ebey as exact copy. Came from Athens, Greece.
Silver tetradrachm, 465-450 BC
OBVERSE: Griffin seated left , rig.999 Silver ht foreleg raised.ΚΑ-ΛΛ-ΙΔΑ-ΜΑΣ (KA-LL-IDA-MAS) around.
REVERSE: ABD-HR-IT-ΟN (ΑΒΔΗΡΙΤΩΝ) around small quadripartite incuse square, all within incuse square.
Antonivs Protti
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Athens, Tourist fake #1565 viewsA tourist fake frequently seen on eBay.
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Abdera, silver tetrobol558 viewsCast fake being sold as authentic on Ebay
11.12.05 private auction by seller "middle.earth"
Weight given as 2.6 gm.
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Athens, Attica Tetradrachm, Athena and Owl557 viewsObv: Head of Athena, right, wearing crested helmet ornamented with three olive leaves and flora.
Rev: Owl standing, right, head facing, to right AOE; to left olive twig and crescent moon

A cast fake. Large detailed image of the coin with smaller original image enclosed as well as detailed of the edge. Signs of casting are visioble as well as a bashed edge to hide the casting seam.

Submitted by Maridvnvm
maridvnvm
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