Hello out there,
about ten days ago I browsed and came across this Phraates IV posted by a
French dealer (pic #1). The little
red lamp went on in my
head as I
had just seen something very similar on
Ebay, where a
German collector was
selling a Phraates
drachm which looked very much like it and was clearly marked as a
modern forgery (pics ##2 and 3). I
sat down to write the obligatory email to the organization asking them to contact the seller, whose email address I could not find, and tell him about my suspicions. Now, my email was very polite, and I did not accuse the seller of any impropriety, I just wanted
his attention called to the striking similarity of those two coins. Then another
red lamp went on, and I checked my
collection where I came across a Phraates IV bought from a dealer in
Holland (pic. # 4) long ago. This coin is clearly a forgery, it is much too heavy (5,6 gr and has a ridiculous
reverse that would go with an Osroes II). It, too, has the same
obv. mold as the other two coins. I just want to have your confirmation that I am not seeing things before I post these three on the
Fake Ancient Coin list. For comparison, I am adding a pic of a genuine Sellw. 53/3 which is sold by a different dealer under the roof of the organization(pic #5). Needless to say, I have not heard anything from the organization or the
French dealer, but perhaps they need time to digest my alert.