Anastasius gold tremissis

[Archontoula R]

Dear friends,

I would like to hear your opinion you about a gold tremissis of Anastasius (Sear 8; 15mm, 1.43 gr). Having this coin in hand I feel that it’s just gilded, not a gold coin. It has some black spots on the obverse and when I scratch the surface on the edge, a black colour resurfaces. I have also had a look with a magnifying glass, and on the obverse, I can see that the coin is porous (e.g. high relief band on the obverse), while some spots may be casting bubbles? (e.g. on the obverse, behind the letters NA of the name Anastasius).

Thank you!

[Hydatius]

The picture's too small to really tell much, but I don't see anything obvious that raises any alarms.
  Richard

[Joe Sermarini]

Hydatius, the photos may be bigger than you think. Maybe you already know, but if you click on them and then click the plus sign to see them full size. 

Archontoula R, next time, please crop photos before posting.

I don't have a firm opinion based on the photos, but it does seem a little bit odd. It could be an ancient counterfeit.

[Archontoula R]

Thank you very much for your replies. Moreover, looking at other coins (Sear of this type, stylistically, the head of the emperor is not very much in accord with other examples. I attach some more detailed and cropped photos; I hope this helps.

Cheers!

[Hydatius]

Doh! No, I didn't download the photos. I have now done so and compared these quickly with 660 photos on CoinArchives, I get one obverse die match (below). As you can see there are three cracks in the die in the legend that appear in both. The reverses are close, obviously the work of the same engraver, but not the same die. There are a number of other reverse dies very close to this. In general the stylistic and quality variations on just about all fifth-century coins is enormous. I see no stylistic reason to doubt this tremissis, and the edge suggests to me authenticity as well. The black marks that I can see around the legend just look like encrustations; I've seen similar on other coins. I cannot explain the other aspect that Archontoula mentions in his/her first post. The coin has a flattened and rough look to it, as if someone had stepped on it. I leave it to others with more experience to decide if the fabric is indicative of casting or just wear. I find the details of the picture a bit soft, indicative of a lower resolution photo blown up.
  Richard

[Archontoula R]

Thank you very much for your time and for looking into this, Richard. What you say is convincing, so I should remove the coin from the discussion board.

Cheers,
Archontoula

[Joe Sermarini]

No, you should not remove the coin from the discussion board. Not every coin discussed here is fake. There is no reason to remove it and we do not want you to remove it.

[Archontoula R]

Thank you, that's good to know.