Marc B3,
The pearls that Ron mentioned, when seen on a
fake cast coin or coin struck from a
fake cast die, are raised perfectly (or nearly so) round impressions caused by casting bubble pits. If there is a tiny pit in the mold or die, there will be a tiny raised 'pearl' on the coin when the metal fills the pit in the mold or die. Pearls are always a cause for concern. But sometimes pearls can occur on genuine
ancient coins, when the die becomes
pitted from rust or wear. On your coin, there are some pearls seen in and around the lips and between the jaw/chin and neck on the
obverse. But also in these areas, there are signs of die degradation: small raised clumps extending into the
field above and below the lower lip, and above and below the pearls seen in the
crook of the neck. So in the case of your coin, because I don't see anything else that looks 'wrong' to me about the coin, I attribute these few pearls to die degradation. If I saw more pearls, and something else that bothered me about the coin, like incorrect
style, I would be suspicious. It's a judgment call, and I could be wrong, and sometimes I am.
In addition to looking for an edge seam, as previously mentioned, if I
had your coin in hand, I would inspect with magnification the striking edge split that goes into
Athena's forehead. These kinds of striking edge splits often don't look right on
cast fake coins. If the split on your coin has
good depth and rough interior surfaces, it could be a sign of genuineness. I would also check with magnification the right
incuse square 'wall', next to the letters on the
reverse. There are tiny striking lines on this surface made by the die. These can also be duplicated in a
cast coin, and they can also be 'dulled' from being exposed to the elements over the centuries, but if they look so
sharp that they seem unlikely to be
cast, it might also be a sign of genuineness. However, these diagnostics will not
work for detecting a
cast die.
Did you buy your coin from a reputable and experienced seller?
I checked the following links for
fakes that look like they were struck or
cast from the dies that struck your coin, and I didn't see any (which is
good). You can have a look to see
fakes that have been identified. You will see casting pearls on some of these examples.
Forvm - Dr. Ilya
Prokopov's
Fake Ancient Coin Reports
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/fakes/thumbnails.php?album=10&page=16Forgery Networkhttp://www.forgerynetwork.com/viewassets.aspx?mode=IrY~x~6CGiY1Q=&cl=&cln=&br=&pr=&prd=&key=9zF~x~Lbg~x~88BT6h2c~x~hrLgp~x~6Bv0YuZGv&ext=CbSSjWkLN03YeTuQXF4H4QH/Qglw7e7HP/aL3GaaCQipaQhi4iWDIWHE9YfedsH3Bhz3qs6cHUVcmiT780Lk9EOLumVXPWZq26k5XqOmFT3cdZc~x~wQZYyVJBTc3GH2CMSsAf2vYy3sF2SpMb5EMxrg==&srco=1&num=20&srchall=0Modern
Owl Forgerieshttp://rg.ancients.info/owls/forgeries.html