Machine cut modern dies

[glebe]

OK. I looked up some old Constans II solidi donated to the ANS in 1944 (the Newell bequest) or earlier. Three are shown below, all showing typical serrations.
People can draw their own conclusions.
Interestingly, these are all issues of the Constantinople mint - the letters on Syracuse types look rather different, and I have found none with clear serrations.

Ross G.

[quisquam]

It really seems to me that Mr. Prokopov is wrong that the marks are an evidence for the use of modern machines, and probably the numiswiki article and the fake reports should be edited accordingly.  

I found an article in money trend 7-8/2010 about experiments with die cutting. The coin to copy was a medieval gold coin comparable in weight and size to a late roman/early byzantine tremissis. The circles were engraved with a lathe, the dots with a punch and the lines with chisel and hammer. On magnified pictures of the copy you can see marks similar to the marks in question which are caused by tools which were available and probably in use by an ancient die cutter, too.

I hope it's all right to show the details of the engarged pictures for educatioal use here.

Regards, Stefan

[Obryzum]

This feature is also common on the lettering for solidi of Theophilus.  After the article came out I emailed Dr. Prokopov with a photo of a Theophilus solidus, and here was his reply:

Looking the photo you sent me, the coin seems OK. The traces are from the engraver's hand work. This can be said because of the soft forms and the various natural positions of the hand. The machine traces are much more sharp, besides there are many other traces of great importance. As a whole the image is good and "plastic". [...]

So I do not think Dr. Prokopov meant to say that all such marks are a definitive sign of forgery!

[glebe]

This feature is also common on the lettering for solidi of Theophilus. 

Which feature exactly? Serrations are pretty hard to find in the later solidi. I'd be interested to see your Theophilus.

Ross G.

[Obryzum]

Ross, I no longer have the high resolution closeup that I sent, but this was the coin.  The serrations are most obvious even in this photo on the      and also the 

[glebe]

Yes I see them. They also show (just) on various letters of this coin of Theophilus. With high resolution photos more traces of serrations can be found on these later types.

Ross G.