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Author Topic: Magnentius  (Read 1761 times)

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Offline Lech Stępniewski

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Magnentius
« on: January 31, 2004, 08:46:13 pm »
What do you think about this Magnentius? Looks odd to me.

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Offline wolfgang336

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Re:Magnentius
« Reply #1 on: January 31, 2004, 11:10:06 pm »
Looks more like a barbaric than a modern fake to me... albeit an exceedingly good one.

Evan

Jericho

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Re:Magnentius
« Reply #2 on: January 31, 2004, 11:24:33 pm »
Here's the coin in question, posted for posterity's sake.

Offline Joe Sermarini

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Re: Magnentius
« Reply #3 on: April 12, 2005, 09:28:20 pm »
Ancient barbaric or modern?  Opinions?
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Mark Farrell

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Re: Magnentius
« Reply #4 on: April 12, 2005, 11:05:40 pm »
I'm voting barb. But then I'm usually wrong.   ;)

Mark

Offline *Alex

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Re: Magnentius
« Reply #5 on: April 13, 2005, 06:20:15 am »
I'm really not sure but I would vote for barb.

Alex.

Optimus

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Re: Magnentius
« Reply #6 on: April 13, 2005, 07:15:59 am »
I would say modern although I would like to see the edge before making any conclusions. The facts speaking for modern are:
- all letters are correctly spelled and in the right order (not so often seen in barbaric)
- the greenish patina looks recently applied
- the letters are with blurred edges
- the bead of points looks somehow suspicious even for barbarian
I really like the portrait, though. Looks like the poor emperor is suffering from acromegalia. I am sure that any official artist who would make such a portrait of the emperor would have to face the consequences (head chopped off, 10 to 15 years in a nice little cell, etc.)  ;)

Offline Hydatius

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Re: Magnentius
« Reply #7 on: April 13, 2005, 08:18:52 am »
Tricky.  The portrait does look barbaric, but the lettering is pretty good, if slightly drunk.  The main thing is, and all are agreed, that it certainly isn't an authentic regular issue and everyone should stay away from it.
Non tam praeclarum est scire Latine quam turpe nescire.

Offline Rupert

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Re: Magnentius
« Reply #8 on: April 13, 2005, 11:19:55 am »
"No regular issue" is not necessarily a reason to stay away. A nice barb is a nice coin too. The big issue is not "regular or not" but "ancient or not". And that's the tricky part.

Rupert
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amarillo

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Re: Magnentius
« Reply #9 on: April 13, 2005, 12:15:08 pm »
It's about as guilty as a puppy sitting next to a pile of poo!

AVOID

Massanutten

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Re: Magnentius
« Reply #10 on: April 13, 2005, 12:17:36 pm »
  If it was a modern day fake then you would have to assume an intent to fake a barbarous  issue?  And if you were going to fake a barb then why go through the trouble of passable legends and field marks?  Doesn't sound reasonable to me.  I vote ancient barbarous.
Best regards, Bob

Offline Hydatius

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Re: Magnentius
« Reply #11 on: April 13, 2005, 12:35:49 pm »
Yes, but you're assuming intelligence on the part of the apparent forger.  I've seen many fakes with changes and mistakes that just can't be explained on the assumption that the engraver is paying any real attention to what one must assume was the real coin (or photo of a real coin) sitting in front of him (or her?): changed figures, incorrect legend breaks (or no breaks where there should be), missing images in the field, muddled mint marks, crazy portraits, fantasy and incorrect details of clothing and diadems.  I'm not discounting the possibility that it's a contemporary counterfeit (the portrait looks right), but the legends in particular look much better than other fourth-century counterfeits I've seen (which doesn't mean anything, of course).  As always, we need someone with expertise in this area to wade in and give us his/her two cents' worth.  But I think that my and others' advice is correct, no matter what this coin's origin: when in doubt, don't buy it.
Non tam praeclarum est scire Latine quam turpe nescire.

Offline Joe Sermarini

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Re: Magnentius
« Reply #12 on: September 02, 2005, 02:53:30 pm »
It is probably ancient but personally I can't say and wouldn't buy or sell it.

The patina is probably artificial.

The good news is, if it is fake the forger will not be able to pass multiple copies.  If we see a second one, we will recognize it and put them both on the fake coin reports
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