This "Libius Severus III Visigothic tremissis" sold for 2,200 euros at Kuenker... https://www.coinarchives.com/a/lotv...Lot=1299&Val=c6d96ab7ad5231ec59c70ff66f48d823 I stumbled across this while on coin archives...don't really know what to say A poor fake on eBay...reverse die match Another poor fake on eBay...obverse die match https://www.ebay.com/itm/224486324116 https://www.ebay.com/itm/174789649161 Here are the eBay links to the die matched fakes... both sellers are from the Balkans... I am not sure how this coin was ever accepted as genuine. Style is all wrong and surfaces look poor, fake die matches aside. Mistakes happen but still......Kuenker has been contacted and I hope they refund the buyer.
Wow - excellent detective work @ The Trachy Enjoyer, and thanks for your help to continue keeping people honest! Given the number of fakes cropping up these days it's more important than ever to continue doing due diligence. The crazy prices these days unfortunately only serve as a larger incentive for this type of forgery. In the subsequent auction feeding frenzy, it's also only natural that some fakes will be overlooked and will make it to the sales floor...
So now what happens? A reputable seller sells a fake to a buyer for a big sum. If that buyer finally realizes that it is fake, what happens? I would hope the seller refunds the money. Kind of makes the seller look less than knowledgeable though, doesn't it? Glad I am nowhere near the target demographic for these kinds of fakes.
This is up my area of interest so I was able to notice the fake...however, I would imagine fakes like it sadly exist in every area... I dont believe I own a fake but odds are that we all will unknowingly own some over the course of our collecting the best we can do is share fakes and help others avoid them!
I am a huge fan of the forum's fake ancients database. Like I said, I am such a bottom feeder that I am probably unlikely to encounter a fake. Luckily, if I do, it won't have set me back such a significant sum. As for the OP coin, will you report it to the seller? How does that work? Is it on the buyer to figure out that they bought a bogus coin?
T.E., Thanks for this enlightening thread ! I suspect we'll see a lot more quality fakes with the recent surge in prices of Migration Era coinage .