Slavey Petrov

[zwicker estate]

hey i was wondering if any of his coins ever come up on here for sale?

[areich]

FORVM doesn't sell reproductions if that's what you mean by 'his coins'.
He is a coin dealer now, so there might be some coins in the catalog that were once 'his coins'.

[commodus]

hey i was wondering if any of his coins ever come up on here for sale?

Ugh! 

[Abu Galyon]

Slavey’s coins are certainly collectable – in much the same way as ‘Paduan’ medals are collectable. It’s a matter of taste, I know, but he has a certain flamboyance in his engraving that some people think often enhances the energy of the original design. Even those who think that making copies of ancient coins is almost the ultimate in wickedness often grudgingly admit that Slavey is a pretty artistic celator. And when his coins are honestly auctioned as Slavey reproductions they fetch a substantial premium over other modern copies/fakes. Of course, they are also frequently auctioned as the genuine article, and that’s one problem. 

As has been mentioned he is a legitimate ancient coin dealer these days, so I don’t think he trades in his own work any more. But when he retired from the replica business, he didn’t destroy his dies, he sold them.  And that’s the other problem, because those who later owned the dies were often much less scrupulous about signing their products than Slavey was. 

Bill R

[commodus]

Oh, I'll grant that he's artistically talented. And even fairly legitimate, in that he typically signs his work. It is rather like with Antiquanova, which was discussed recently on another thread here: the reproductions are well and good so long as they are represented as such. It is when they are misrepresented as the real thing that the problems set in. And it is not that uncommon for repros like Slavey's to be misrepresented as genuine, throwing them squarely into the fake category. Better that no reproductions are made whatsoever, though this, I realize, is unlikely to happen.

[Reid Goldsborough]

Slaveys aren't seen much any more. Dealers don't typically carry them because some collectors, incorrectly, ignorantly really, regard them as forgeries. Some exceptions here. Frank Robinson sells Slaveys. You sometimes see them for sale at major coin shows by well-respected dealers. But the Bulgarians in the U.S. who bought Slavey's dies for whatever reason are no longer actively producing and selling Slaveys.

Slavey Petrov gave birth to the "Bulgarian School," with some of his apprentices now having the dishonor of leading the world in the production of ancient coin forgeries. There are more than a half dozen ancient coin forgery workshop operating openly in Bulgaria. But there's no indication that Slavey himself ever produced any work with the intention of deceiving, which is what a forgery is. If someone scratches off his signature  or "COPY" mark and sells one of his replicas as authentic, or produces casts from his replicas by reworking the molds to remove his signature or "COPY" mark and sells them as authentic, that doesn't make his replicas forgeries.

Some of his work is stunningly evocative. I like the statement that Slavey's flamboyance enhances the energy of the original design. I think that's true. Slavey is the opposite of understated. Some, on the other hand, don't like his work for this reason. To each his own.

[Obryzum]

I agree with Reid. 

I will go a step further and say that it is good for numismatics to encourage modern celators to learn the ancient art and to learn to engrave dies in the original methods.  How can we profess to appreciate our coins and yet despise those who yearn to master the ancient craft?  If there was intent to deceive that would be one thing, but everything I hear about Slavey is that he simply loved the art . . . .