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Dangerous forgery?- Ideas?

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Hydatius:
I just won the solidus below from a major US auction house.  Stylistically it is perfect.  There is absolutely nothing about the appearance or the weight (4.34 g) to suggest that it was anything other than what it appeared to be.  It even has some flow lines on the left obverse legend.  Upon receiving it I noticed an odd flaw on the reverse (circled in the photo).  The gold was peeling off and underneath was a silvery-white metal.  I poked it with a probe and it is not just a grain of sand embedded in the metal, it is solid.  There are a few flaws and scrapes on the obverse and they are consistent with gold (and nothing is exposed beneath).  The kicker came when I dropped it.  It doesn't ring as other solidi do and the sound it made was of a lower frequency.  This coin was previously sold in the CNG Mail bid sale 64 lot 1229 on 24 Sept 2003.

Has anyone heard of modern forgeries like this?  I've seen a lot of fake fifth-century solidi and I've never seen one that is as stylistically perfect as this is.  It must come from a cast since the obverse shares a die with a legit coin sold by Sotheby's, NAC, and Gorny & Mosch between 1990 and 2004.  Without the flaw on the reverse I never would have suspected it.  And it has been around for a while: the surface is covered with scuffs and dings and dents.  Any suggestions?

 Richard

Hydatius:
Here's the reverse in a larger size

Miguel Diaz:
Could you scan or zoom ?

We can't see the silver color in your photo ...

Hydatius:
I hadn't thought about a scan.  Doh!  Here it is.

Lots of views but no suggestions?  Is this a normal method of forging gold and I'm just clueless, or is this something new?

peterpil19:
Are you certain it is a modern forgery, could it be a fourree possibly?

--Peter

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