Well, I fell in love with this Pan/Nike Hemilitron a while back: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/scored-a-bucket-list-goat-riding-hemilitron.274034/ Like many love affairs this one seems to be destined to crash and burn. I am getting very suspicious that this coin is a fake. Himera, Sicily, AE Hemilitron (corrected - thanks Steve!) Obverse: Pan as a youth, holding thyrsos over his shoulder and about to blow on a conch shell, seated on goat walking right, six dots below Reverse: IMERA, Nike advancing left holding aplustre. BMC 52; Arslan377, 23mm, 9.11 grams This type should be struck under Bronze Reduced Litra Standard II and it should be between 5.78 and 6.22 grams and have a diameter of 18-21 mm (Hoover HGC V2 page 134). Mine is too big and too heavy. This should be enough to stop a person who is paying attention (doh!) from buying a coin. The weight being off this much is a very big red flag. The forgers probably used an ancient bronze coin as the flan for this fake (which can be very convincing) but did not select one of the correct weight. Acssearch confirms most examples are in the high 5 grams range. https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=himera+hemilitron+pan I am very suspicious of non archaic/non incuse coins that are very deeply struck the way the reverse of this one is. This is supposed to be a possible sign that a hydraulic press was used to make the coin and they really squished the die into the flan more deeply than hitting it with a hammer ever would. I am not sure this is a totally reliable way to detect a fake but to me it is a warning sign. Then I came across this deeply disturbing collection of fake dies posted in a yahoo discussion group on forgeries. Looking at all the coins represented I spotted my true love hiding in there in the middle of the bottom row: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/CoinForgeryDiscussionList/conversations/messages/36376 Lots of very nice coins represented in this set of fake dies... The picture posted is not sufficiently high resolution to be sure my coin was made from these dies, but it adds another potential strike against the coin. What do you all think? John
Hmm, that's tough. Your coin's reverse definitely does not match the fake dies. I found a slightly larger image of those fake dies on Forvm. Here's a composite with the dies from the tray and the dies shown on Forvm (I think they're the same die, probably posted by the same person). It's more difficult to say whether the obverse of your coin matches the fake die's obverse. The markedly heavy weight of your coin compared to the others in archive is worrisome. This might be a good coin to send to David Sear. I flipped the die images to make comparison easier.
I don't know the type so I can't comment on the fabric or style of your coin, but I can see the fake dies well enough to say they do not match your coin.
Your image is a lot better TIF, thanks! I see Nike's hair is styled differently and her legs are at different angles. The PAN side looks like it could be a match. Maybe the fake dies were transferred from a real coin with my obverse but a different reverse? I think the weight and size of the flan are enough to say mine is a fake. I should have been paying more attention when I bought it.
Like JA, I don't know the type well enough to comment beyond comparing it to the fake dies and authentic (or presumably authentic) coins in archives. I wouldn't condemn it yet. Perhaps you could contact the seller and express your concerns, and suggest that you send it to David Sear, with a refund of the coin's price (and Sear certification price) if it is condemned.
I'm not sure a fat flan is a deal breaker - when it comes to bronze you sometimes get a wild outlier. Looking at this page, your coin seems to "feel right" in terms of style and fabric. An occasional heavy flan is not uncommon when it comes to bronze types - weight was more carefully measured when it came to precious metals.
The heaviest one I see is 6.59. Mine is 9.1, which seems pretty far off. I hope you are right and it is just an outlier. Maybe they grabbed the flan for another denomination they were making at the time and struck it? This is about the right weight for a Tetras (with the Gorgoneion facing) under the Reduced Litra Standard I 430-420BC. Maybe they had some left over and just whacked them with the new design? The Pan type was struck 420-415 BC so the timing could be right. Maybe this one needs to go see David Sear, as TIF suggested.
I'm saying this as a novice to the issue, but my first impression is the asearch coins seem to have been struck on smaller flans than the OP coin. If ancient, a mint mistake may very well be the explanation. I agree with TIF, away to Sear with it.
I can confirm that at least one pair of dies from this group posted on FORVM is definitely transferred from a real coin. I have recently been in contact with a major auction house about an important, published coin that at first glance seemed to have been struck by one of these die pairs. Upon closer examination it was found that the coin in question was overstruck(as expected for the particular type) and while a die match to the pair of dies in question, not actually struck from the dies in question based on damage transferred from the host coin to the dies and to other coins struck by the dies, but not the coin in question. I believe many of these dies are likely transfer dies from authentic host coins, though some are wholly new dies.
Does anyone know the story behind this set of fake dies? Like who collected them and how they got them? Some high resolution pictures of each die pair would be a real service to the community. If the dies show characteristic damage (corrosion, die breaks, cracks, etc) it would make identifying fakes made with them easier.
Without a doubt, it must be sent to David Sear or some other authority. It would be a shame to condemn the coin without more proof.
http://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=107660.0 I didn't read the entire thread but maybe the answer is in it. If not, try sending a private message to the thread's author. He owns the fake dies you showed (he's not the forger) and quite a few more.
