What happened to Gitbud Numismatik?

Is this what you need? 5873151-004

 

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Unfortunately if i did and XFR test on this coin, I didn't save the results.

This coin is part of a large influx of fake electrum that's been hitting the market the last few years. The punches tend to be the giveaways as they are pressed into the flan instead of being struck or punched. On this coin, the soft, smooth edges of the shallow punch are a give away that this isn't an authentic example. The edges of the punch should be squared with clear metal flow on the edges of the punch. Also the bottoms of the punches should be textured, not smooth. Finally, because the two punches were applied in separate strikes, there should be a clear, raised, overlap line between the punches, the punches shouldn't be blended together.

Barry

 

This was fascinating - thank you! I did notice a large influx of electrum and some seemed awfully suspicious. For others it seems challenging to tell.

Any tips for the smaller single punch denominations? Many of the ones sold in the recent years seem to have notably shallower punches. Is that as big of a red flag on the smaller types (1/24 staters seem the most common)? Are there any genuine coins with smooth punches or should all of those be (almost) automatically condemned as fakes?

 

Here's an example (from a different mint) from the Pozzi and Seltman collections in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts that wouldn't do too well under Barry Murphy's criteria.

Ross G.

 

That's completely unrelated to what I commented on above.

Barry Murphy

 

Certainly we are talking about different types. The point is that people should understand that "soft smooth edges" and the other supposed characteristics of pressed punches listed by Barry above don't necessarily imply a modern fake in all cases.

Ross G.

 

This coin doesn't have soft smooth edges. It has sharp angular edges. Like I said before, unrelated to what I said.

Barry Murphy

 

It seems Barry that your idea of "sharp angular edges" is rather different from mine.

Ross G.

 

So what do we think of these two rather rough looking electrum types?

The top one is a stater of 14.06 gm, and the bottom one is a half-stater of 6.98 gm. (Obviously they are not to scale).

Specifically, (a) where do they come from? and (b) are they genuine?



Ross G.

 

Ross, Its not my time period but I learned a lot from your papers on the subject of electrum coinage.
I stumbled into them when I had questions about electrum but from a later time period.

Early Coinage (glebecoins.org)