LRB Fakes

[maridvnvm]

I have seen some casts appearing on ebay that have either beed seeded into uncleaned or are beinf distributed across various people across Europe. The ones I have spotted have bee through two sellers purporting to be in the United Kingdom.

Alarms beels were rining on first sight but when I found twins appearing it aided in the building of evidence. The sellers have a wide range of "Limes" through Tacitus, Probus, Carinus and on to LRB. I have not found matches for everything yet but am sure that they will turn up over time.

I thought that I would start with a pair of Constantine the Great, VICT LAETAE with a decorated shield.

The second is a Constantine II, plan of camp site.

I am gathering as many images as I can of these as I can then add fake reports when their mates turn up.

I will add fake reports shortly.

Martin

[Joe Sermarini]

Thanks Martin.

[Ron C2]

Stupid question, but is faking LRBs actually profitable?

[maridvnvm]

It is certainly profitable but I am not certain it would be profitabale enough for many of us.

Some coins return more than others.

Here is a Carinus Quinarius that one of them has sold for over $100. The other has one for sale right now.

[Ron C2]

obviously duplicate casts.  I see casting pearls, identical flans, etc. 

I find is fascinating anyone is bothering to cast LRB fakes in bronze.  It's actually not easy to cast bronze well and then patinate it convincingly.  No way I would even consider doing it for $100, and not all of that would be profit, I suspect. 

But then, I guess there are lost of fake cast silver denarii of not that uncommon types trading between $50-100.  So it must be worth the effort to someone.

I guess my North American mind tries to rationalize it as "why bother if you can't get at least $200 for the coin?" based on the local economy here.  In some places though, I guess $100 is a lot of money.

[maridvnvm]

These look like they are low quality sand casts. The cost of production must be pennies. There was a time when better quality casts were being sold on for around a dollar a piece and they were making money on them. If they can move enough volume then it seems to be worth their while. Just one of these sellers has sold about $2,000 of this sort of junk so far this month.

Here comes another pair..... One of these sold for about $45

[Lech Stępniewski]

In some places though, I guess $100 is a lot of money.

I can imagine this. Before 1989 most people in Poland earned $20-30 per month. Probably on Balkans there are still regions where there is virtually no job and no social security, so doing something which could be sold is always a profit.

[Ron C2]

These look like they are low quality sand casts. The cost of production must be pennies. There was a time when better quality casts were being sold on for around a dollar a piece and they were making money on them. If they can move enough volume then it seems to be worth their while. Just one of these sellers has sold about $2,000 of this sort of junk so far this month.

Here comes another pair..... One of these sold for about $45

That top one actually has a very convincing patina. 

[lawrence c]

I bounced around the Balkans and the region relatively frequently a few years ago. The amount of fake stuff in their flea markets was phenomenal, ranging from Roman 'antiquities' to a lot of Nazi regalia (which seemed particularly prominent in Bulgaria). Most of it was sufficiently awful to not pose much of a threat. I didn't notice a plethora of fake coins, but wasn't paying that much attention to them at the time. I'd guess, though, that we're going to see a significant uptick in fake Romans over the next few years. There has been somewhat of a cottage industry in the area of metal detectorists hunting for coins and the like. My guess is that the easy to find stuff might be past its maximum cost-benefit ratio. As searches become tougher, it might become more cost effective for some of the people who spent a lot of time searching for and finding coins and artefacts simply to spend their time faking them instead.

[Kevin D]

About 15 years ago, in a Bangkok coin shop, when speaking with the owner about forgeries of very low value coins, I said something to the effect that if a coin like that was die struck it would be legitimate. The owner then pulled a ring binder from below his display case and opened it to show me coin pocket sheets holding die struck fake coins, advising me that original examples would have sold for the equivalent of $2 US at the time.  I can't remember what kind of coins they were, or even from what part of Asia they came, but at the time I knew there were areas of Asia where millions of people were reportedly living on $1 US a day.