A die match to "bpmurphy" identified
fakes is currently for sale.
The imho the
toning and dirt is artifcial,
flan shap is very odd and details do look a little
bit soft.
I knew at first sight that there was something wrong so I searched
forgerynetwork without
success and then I remembered on that
thread in ancients.info
I could not find this
fakes in
fake reports, too. (searched Athen+
tetradrachm)
PS: Extremely bad and obvious
fakes not sure how they could fool anyone.
"bpmurphy" "Upon closer examination, I will leave open the possibility that the NY Sale coin may have been the host for the
obverse and the one
reverse die. The cracks on the edge do look a
bit more authentic and the coin doesn't appear to have th same satiny surfaces."
The host/ mother should have all details (from the authentic dies) that the other
fakes produced from this impression of the mother/host have, if no details were recutted !!! Impression of mother/host is used to make casting mould or transfer dies.
There seem to be only one
obverse die, all have a die flaw over the mouth of
Athena!!!
And two differnt
reverse dies.
The NY coin can not be the host, except there were many details recutted for example the NA(.) fake has
part of the crest, which are missing on the other examples.
The NY coin coin is missing a
part of the letter epsilon, but a
complete epsilon can be found on the first fake of bpmurphy´s picture or on the fake currently for sale by
Italian auction house together with several imho fake at least extremely suspicious Sicilian coins .
IMHO all coins in these pictures are fake and non of them is host/mother, I do not like the flanshape and artificial
toning+fake dirt and details.
The one with best details needn´t be the mother, it can be a
cast or transfer die fake, too.
The one with all details and sharpest details is likely the host/mother, except there has been recutting of details into the impression used to make mould or transfer dies.
The details, which are missing on the NY coin do look very convincing on the other coins and there are more
fine details missing on the NY coin.
If they can recut some details so well, then they could have recutted the whole crest easily.
http://www.ancients.info/forums/showthread.php?t=1060"bpmurphy"
Good evening all,
I'd like to share a group of fake
Athens tetradrachms that have been on the market for at least the last 3 years.
http://bpmurphy.ancients.info/images...kes-Athens.jpgThe coins are all struck from the same
obverse die and two
reverse dies. The obverses all have the small bump above the lip, the raised bumps on the nose, the lines protruding from the forehead and the unusal curve to the right hand petal of the flower on the helmet. There are other points of
identification but this should suffice.
The two
reverse dies can be easily distinguished by the large flaw under the left eye that appears on one of the dies.
None of the coins have an apparent crest, just a row of small dots then some blurred metal.
The two coins in my fake trays have been there since early 2004.
While I've
had the two
fakes for awhile, the problem didn't really come to my attention until earlier this summer.
Victor at
CNG showed me an
Athens tetradrachm that
had just come from Europe and asked my opinion. The coin
had a satiny texture (like the two in my black trays) and looked odd. After some study I came to the conclusion that the coin was fake. He then confirmed that he was of the same opinion. I believe that coin was returned to the seller and I don't have a photo of that coin. I then did some searching and found he other 3 coins, one found on
Vcoins at the time and 2 on
CoinArchives.
I didn't realize at the time that I
had two of the same
fakes in my black trays. That fact wasn't realized until an hour ago when sorting my
fakes.
In the flesh, the two coins on my desk and the one
Victor showed me have a satiny appearance. I studied the
CNG coin for about 30 seconds and
had thought it was fake, then studied it closer for a few minutes. None of the coins appear to me to be very deceptive, but evidently they have fooled a few people so be on the lookout. All have been artificially
toned and have
had some dirt
applied. I'm certain that there are others out there.
Upon closer examination, I will leave open the possibility that the NY Sale coin may have been the host for the
obverse and the one
reverse die. The cracks on the edge do look a
bit more authentic and the coin doesn't appear to have th same satiny surfaces.
Barry Murphy