Featured How to Detect Forgeries

Great stuff to know, for sure. Thanks, very helpful for a greenhorn like me! I would also like to add... look for casting specks too. Tiny raised dots, left from casting(grains of sand), or other raised areas,where it should be smooth from the pressure of the hammer. such as above or below the portrait. Just my observations. I,m surprised this is not mentioned versus pits?...

 

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A metallurgical test is very useful to detect forgeries of all time periods. This has been done for decades, especially for ancients. Of course, the task becomes less perfect if original coins are used to make new planchets. Then things like crystallization and extraneous elements not found in the originals comes into play. Judging from the published article, ancient collectors have their work cut out for them as even TPGS's don't guarantee the coins.

 

I think ancient forgery detection is probably easier than modern because there are a lot more variables for a forger to get right with an ancient coin that makes it almost guaranteed that something will be missed. Moderns can be manufactured on the same equipment using the same tools used to create the real thing in the first place!

 

Speaking of fugazys,which one is real,left or right
M1

 

This is the ancients forum.

 

From the first article:

”Estimated more than 90% of all fakes offered belong to the group of fakes you can detect with the methods described.”



Can one clarify it for me?: Did the author mean that 90% are struck?

Or that 90% are struck, cast, electrotypes and transfer dies?

 

I think the author means using the described methods, 90% of fakes can be detected.

 

Alegandron,
Did not mean to step on your subject of "ancients", by the way as an expert are "ancients" defined by whos calender??
"Dont Tread on me" Christopher Gadsden (1724–1805),and the Flag was used by the continental Marines.
M1

 

Hey Marine, no treading done at all so no worries. Most of us simply aren't qualified to even guess with modern coins. I think it's a LOT harder to recognize a modern fakes rather than ancient.

So since this is my thread, I'll take the bait and "guess" it is the 1895 that is a fugazzi.

 

Technically, ancient coinage is from 600 BC through around 475-500 AD. Dark age/Medieval starts at around 500 AD and goes through around 1,500 AD. However, that is really for European coins. For example, Sassanian coinage in the Middle East could technically be considered ancient coinage even through the 600s, and medieval in places like Japan can stretch through the 1800s. So it's all relative.
Although this is the ancients forum, it is not uncommon to find coins up to the late medieval period here. After all, the Eastern Roman Empire lasted until 1453, and hand struck coins were the norm until the late medieval period, so it's not uncommon for ancient coin collectors to dabble in medieval coinage on the side.

But as a rule of thumb, from the mid to late 1500s forward when most of the world starts to adopt presses to strike coins, that would definitely be considered modern coinage by almost everyone here. US coinage is all 100% modern, even the colonial stuff.

One could argue though that some Indian, Japanese, and Chinese coinage from as late as the 18th or 19th century might technically be ancient/medieval as far as the methods used to create the coins...but that's a gray area I'm not fit to discuss.

 

You are correct, the 1921 is OK - now back to the ncients..

 

Carthago, I urge all CoinTalk members to download the study in your post, it focuses on the the Athenian dekadrachm fake that was offered for sale by Gemini & Heritage on April 14, 2011. This magnificent fake had a number of the worlds top experts fooled including Harlan Berk, David Vagi, & the staff at Heritage. Harlan Berk took an enormous loss on the coin that I believe he was never able to recover. See photo below.

Not only was this coin condemned as a fake, but another Athenian dekadrachm offered by CNG in their Triton X auction on January 9, 2007 was linked to this coin & also exposed as a fake made by the same forger, see photo below.

These coins represent the quintessence of of the forgers art. What made these coins so difficult to detect was the idea that some numismatists proposed that coin hubbing was used by the ancient Greeks in manufacturing these dekadrachms. So similarities on these two specimens was written off to die hubbing, but little did they know that a modern forger used this technique to make these fakes.

 

First, let me say that the "art" of counterfeiting all coins has come a long way in the last six or so decades. So much so that even the "experts" can be deceived for a while. Some here may remember the Ionian Obol controversy from the past. Around that time I was working for a US/Ancient coin dealer. I was of the opinion the coins were counterfeits. Folks way above my expertise were on both sides of the fence.

In my humble opinion, there is one main reason the field of ancient numismatics has become a "minefield." Obviously, the fabric of these coins is important yet; except for myself, I'VE NEVER, EVER SEEN A COIN DEALER EXAMINE AN ANCIENT COIN USING A STEREO MICROSCOPE!!!

Some may remember the wonderful comment I received in the Ancient Forum a while back concerning my authentication skills concerning ancients. There are reasons for my reputation that even the person who testified to my ability never knew.

I'm not as good with these coins today as I used to be. Unfortunately, since the late 1990's, you could fit all the ancients I've closely examined in a double row box. Sadly, I'm out of the loop. I've missed the passing years of better fakes. I'll never know what my opinion would have been if I were to examine one of these in hand at NGC.

I miss the challenge of going up against both the Ancient dealers and the counterfeiters. The Internet, TPGS, and impounded collections are your best friend. Coins as this should never be authenticated by eye alone. We all know that an analysis of their composition may no longer be foolproof either. Unfortunately, the faker only needs to make ONE COPY of a rare and valuable coin as this to make it a little easier to fool the experts. We are lucky to have the TPGS, even though they are not always correct.