FORVM`s Classical Numismatics Discussion Board
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Dear colleagues,
Several year ago i've bought a Lucius Aemilius Paullus denarius from 62 BC. It was cheap, bought in quite reputable auction house and i truly forgot about him till last month, when i tried to sell it in the other auction house. I was completely surprised that it was told that this coin is highly suspicious and probably fake.
What is your opinion?
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Weight?
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3,82g
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Did the 2nd auction house have the coin in hand? It looks a bit "soapy" but hard to say. The issue is often off-center with heavier wear on reverse, with poor engraving on reverse, as seen. It would be odd to cast a fake from such a typically worn original.
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Yes, they have coins in hand. I will attach edges photos later.
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Edge photos added.
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The crack on the edge looks rather suspicious. Does the element located in the place of its possible continuation look relatively easy to remove?
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The crack on the edge looks rather suspicious. Does the element located in the place of its possible continuation look relatively easy to remove?
No, it's a solid piece of metal.
Another portion of photos.
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No, it's a solid piece of metal.
Well, it's hard to find any clear argument that this coin is a fake. I am puzzled by something else - after reviewing about 300 of the 700 coins of this type available on acsearch I found three that seem to be die-linked with yours, but only the obverse (all three reverses seem to be struck with the same die, but not identical with yours). Am I right?
(https://www.acsearch.info/media/images/archive/9/7676/7892768.m.jpg)
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=7892768
(https://www.acsearch.info/media/images/archive/96/4773/4830323.m.jpg)
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=4830323
(https://www.acsearch.info/media/images/archive/126/6574/6780248.m.jpg)
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=6780248
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Am I right?
Yes :)
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Am I right?
Yes :)
Nevertheless, we are still far from the conclusions. A bit too many surviving coins from this obverse die. Were any of the above three coins used to create a modern fake die, from which yours was later struck?
(https://www.acsearch.info/media/images/archive/17/1510/1357957.m.jpg)
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=1357957
Here's yours, sold for 60 EUR in 2012. As I understood, you bought it recently from antother seller.
(https://www.acsearch.info/media/images/archive/48/719/473981.m.jpg)
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=473981
And here's another coin, struck with the same dies as yours and also with a suspiciously fuzzy reverse.
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Yes, I bought mine coin from WCN in 2019.
The quantity of similar coins and soapy reverse is truly confusing, but i'm still not sure it's a fake. Maybe because i'm not even average in recognising fakes :(
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but i still not sure it's a fake.
Me too, but the amount of suspect details is starting to get significant.
The following hypothesis can be made:
1.the first three coins are probably not counterfeit;
2.one of them was used to create a modern obverse die, which was used to struck the next two (there is probably a coin with the reverse used, I did not try to look for it).
A good proof of this would be to find at least one more coin that exactly matches yours.
Could someone confirm this makes sense?
Fake Coins and Notorious Fake Sellers => Topic started by: Pawel K on May 11, 2022, 02:39:51 pm