Resources > Fake Coins and Notorious Fake Sellers
Pertinax fakes
Jeff Clark:
This group of three coins represent my entire Pertinax collection....a sestertius, a denarius and an as. I suppose that is more than most people. See if any of these look like a problem to you.
Jeff Clark:
And the coins.
Jeff Clark:
Ok, number 3 was bought as a fake....for $80 no less. Someone else wanted it as much as I did apparently. It was my first Pertinax and I got it over 10 years ago. I have always sort of wanted it to be real...sort of like Pinnochio...but it isn't. I called it an As here or it would have obviously been seen as a problem, but it is too small for a normal As. The metal is wrong being a little like a cross between orichalcum and bronze. There is really no wear on the coin except for the flat "scrape" that takes off all the high surfaces. This could occur naturally perhaps, but is certainly a flagging point. The lettering on the coin is odd and very difficult to read. It could be due to a double strike, but on a decent coin with good definition, I would expect the letters to stand out much better without the problems they have. The only other thing that seems like a problem is the beard. It is a lot longer than all the positively genuine Pertinax's I have seen, but again, that could just be an engraver's choice.
Some of you were worried about #1. I don't blame you. Not only are the letters and features much broader than I would like, the darn thing is concave! Other than that, I suppose it is ok. I hope it is real as I bought it from the big guys and paid over $600 when the dust finished flying. I am not convinced completely however...but it probably is real.
#2 doesn't seem to bother anybody and probably shouldn't. It is a typical looking Pertinax denarius with odd shaped flan, etc.
Well that's about it for the Pertinax group. Does anybody have anything interesting to add about these?
curtislclay:
No. 3 is obviously from modern dies. The style is wrong.
I am worried about no. 1 also, however. The flan crack looks fairly convincing, but everything else about the coin suggests to me that it may be a cast.
If you'd like to send me the coin at our office, I would be happy to report whether personal inspection confirms or refutes this impression.
featherz:
Number 3 was pretty obvious--as for #1, it does look a bit casty, but my initial impression was 'heavy smoothing'. Send it off to Curtis. :)
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