My life for the next couple of months...

Try and keep up boys.

 

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...and misspelled too! "Under Neat that".

www.cakewrecks.com is a fun site

 

Sometimes ya gotta wonder......

 

I was struggling with this Diadumenian denarius for awhile... at a first look the coin seemed good - no matches in the fake databases, no traces of a casting seam or file marks at the edges. However, the surfaces (particularly when magnified) show a lot of texture and numerous small bumps. The lack of prominent flow lines and somewhat weak/melty obverse legends also do not help its case. While I don't think the coin is a modern forgery, it's my prime candidate for a Sear opinion at this point.

 

The flan cracks don't look convincing either. They look fairly smooth and filled rather than jagged or crystallized. If authentic, is it a very valuable coin? In other words, is it worth spending money for a more learned opinion?

 

It is a very expensive coin but the question is whether it has enough chances to be found genuine to make it worth the certificate not whether the type is worth the effort. You would never be able to sell this coin without a certificate or slab. We don't believe in it. Should anyone?

 

If I did send this off and it came back genuine, I would sell it immediately with the certificate. It is better to have coins that we actually like whether or not an expert does.

 

How does the edge look?

 

Most of the cracks do seem shallow. The individual 'problems' don't condemn the coin out right to my mind, but add them together and the prognosis doesn't seem very good.

 

Totally agree with this. I am looking for enough reasons to give this one a chance.

 

I'm sorry I don't have a pic of the edge, I'll try to get one done tomorrow. No sign of a casting seam... wear and cracks seem consistent with a struck coin.

 

That surface looks very suspicious. It's not the normal pattern of crystallization or porosity you see on some ancient silver. I agree that it needs professional examination.

 

I've just spent some time sifting through a few hundred examples of Diadumenian denarii online hoping to find a die match for this coin. The only thing that came up was an obverse match with, of all things, a "limes denarius" from a G&N auction just last month:


Weight: 2.48g

My coin again, which has an acceptable weight of 3.06g.


Now more so than before, I'm not sure what to think about my coin!

 

Wow

 

The high-magnification pictures show clear evidence of cleaning-related scratches:



Note the scratches between the rightmost legend and the edge of the coin.

So my question is, why would a counterfeiter go to the trouble of adding cleaning scratches that are only visible under high magnification to a (possibly) cast coin? If an expert can determine that this coin isn't genuine, then he won't be fooled by fake cleaning scratches.

This makes me think the coin is more likely to be genuine and is worth an expert's opinion.

 

I agree that these scratches are more likely to be cleaning-related than an attempt by a forger to add artificial wear and distress to the coin.

Here are some edge pictures of the coin. I'm now also noticing some small, hard brown deposits (like in the right crevice of the first picture) that I would be surprised to find on a modern fake.

 

How can an authentic Rome mint denarius be a die match to a limes?

 

My understanding is that official mint dies were used in the manufacture of some of these so-called 'limes'. This particular one looks like an AE cast copy of a denarius that is an obverse die match with my coin.

 

It wouldn't surprise me to find an officially-issued denarius that was a die match to a limes denarius. Most of the limes denarii that I've seen are not barbarous in style at all - they just look like bronze copies of their silver cousins.