Here we have a quite
good looking
Caesar (
Aeneas carrying
Anchises;
Crawford 458/1).
I can`t say for sure whether I wouldn`t bid (or wouldn`t have bidden) on it if it wasn`t offered by "dharmacoins" on
ebay, but by a renowned
auction house.
And this made me suspicious.
So I am just happy to present this almost perfect fake (without having
had the chance of
buying it before, luckily, of course).
A scratch leaving such big bulges or elevations?
Anyway, to whom this isn`t proof enough, the E-graffiti seems to have been quite frequent for this coin-type at that time.
Compare added pics from the
forum`s
gallery of "proven"
fakes.
Though it looks really
good on this coin, however,
cast scratches apparently leave traces.
The election scene
denarius by Publius Licinius (added in the second attachment) is also quite a stunning fake.
Above all the
incuse looking
inscription on the
reverse seems to differ from originals.
In general,
fakes like the ones offered by
diosesdelolimpo or "drharmcoin" can be detected by looking out for brownish or grey stain/discoloration (resembling sandy
patina) between elevated figures and depictions and the surface of the coin in general.
For some reasons, this stain or coloring must come up when or after these coins are produced.
It is a characteristic they all seem to have in common, with varying intensity. They all bear "exactly [or: roughly] the same
toning",
as Lee S stated above.