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Otho-Vespasian muleThis coin I failed to obtain, but I suspect it may be an authentic Ancient counterfeit combining a Second/Third period Otho obverse with a Vespasian reverse. Said to have been found in UK by a detectorist. Very interesting. UPDATE: another coin combining a similar type of obverse and Domitian as Caesar reverse was sold on ebay recently. It is definitely more suspicious and I regard it as a modern forgery. This coin may be of same stock as well.jmuona
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RIC 16 Ancient counterfeitA typical silver-foil plated Ancient counterfeit. Two other unoffical coins with the same dies are known to me, one in the Madrid coin cabinet. The VICTORIA OTHONIS reverse should be united with a long obverse legend die with an early Otho coiffure. The legend cannot be seen from this specimen, but the hair is clearly of the very late type. This incorrect combination immediately reveals the forgery. Both dies appear to be copies of official ones.
2.39 gr, max 18 mm, die-axis 8.
jmuona
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RIC 16 Ancient counterfeitYet another counterfeit of this type. Plated and if intact, this would be quite convincing even today.jmuona
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RIC 16 Ancient counterfeitConsidering how uncommon this type is as a genuine Rome mint product, the plated ones are really surprisingly frequent.jmuona
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RIC 19 Ancient counterfeitPlated forgery with breaks on the surface foil clearly visible on obverse. The obverse die imitates or possibly copies an early Otho die with long legend, the reverse is that of a coin, which should be combined with a short obverse legend. This is a feature seen on many of these Ancient counterfeits. With only two legends available, one might think this should not be that difficult to get right. Perhaps it was intentional? Another possibility is that the forgers did not know how to read and as the long obverse legend coins were commoner, this mix-up happened easily.
2.72 gr, max 18 mm, die-axis 12.jmuona
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RIC 19 Ancient counterfeitThis is a peculiar coin. Clearly not produced with the silver-foil method, but rather by a surface enriched silver method. Both dies are convincing and the lettering is excellent and typical of the late Otho coins. The hair-do is correct for the type.
2.72 gr, max 18 mm, die-axis 6.jmuona
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RIC 8 Ancient counterfeitA plated Ancient counterfeit. The portrait is atypical and the obverse legend is strangely placed: the word "CAESAR" ends more to the left with respect to the portrait than in any known official die (n = 520), even though there clearly is the letter "M" as well. The drapery falling from the hand holding the caducaeus on the reverse is simplified and incorrectly executed as well.
[2.34 gr], max 17 mm, die-axis 7.jmuona
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RIC 8 Ancient counterfeitA plated forgery and an unusually ugly one. The flat-headed, pig-necked portrait is badly off and the obverse legends are too widely spaced and inconsistent. The reverse has a moderately succesfull Securitas, the legend appears to read "..VR-I-IASPR".
2.95 gr, max 18 mm, die-axis 6.jmuona
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RIC 8 Ancient counterfeitA convincing forgery but for the broken down plating. Both dies appear to copy official ones, but the obverse lettering is slightly off. This may be due to the plating technique.
2.50 gr, max 18.5 mm, die-axis 6.jmuona
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RIC 8 Ancient counterfeitThis type with a smile never seen in a genuine coin is known from many collections. e.g. Paris.jmuona
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