Hi all! I'm thinking of buying this coin: an extremely rare antoninianus of Carausius, with TEMPORVM FELICITAS/Four Seasons Dancing reverse. I've only managed to find 1 other example of this type, which I found in "Roman Coins and Their Values Volume IV". The dies for both coins appear to be the same. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! The coin for sale: In Roman Coins and Their Values Volume IV by Sear
EDIT: I've found this one that was sold by CNG recently with different obverse and reverse dies: cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=293912
It looks like an authentic coin to my eye, not sure if your first example (Sear coin) is a die match, however.
I don't see anything that immediately jumps out at me about the coin being fake. That green (verdigris?) patina looks thick and I can't imagine any way of faking it to look like that (or, if you were faking a coin, why you would make it look like that). Carausius styles often vary from the barbarous to the well-executed, and this one is close to the CNG example. Not sure if the light green is active bronze disease - you may want to take a closer look if you buy it and treat it if it is...
The problem with extreme rarities in rough shape like this is that they're very hard to authenticate. It could well be genuine, but on the other hand... Personally I would stay away from it without knowing for sure that it came from the ground.
Thanks for your responses! Could it be possible that all three share a similar, but different reverse die? Looking at the base of the left foot of the third figure, they all hit the C of Felicitas at the same point. (The left side of the C) Following the I up on all three coins, they all pass through the thing in the middle of the two centre figures Only the coin I want to buy and the Sear coin have the left hand of the fourth figure clearly visible, with the CNG coin not having that (although that may be wear) The neck of the second child of the coin I want to buy and the CNG coin is quite short, while it's quite long on the Sear coin, so maybe all the dies are different? The obverse die of the coin I want to buy and the Sear coin are identical I think, with the CNG coin having a much too long neck. So if this coin uses the same reverse die as the CNG example, but the same obverse die as the Sear coin, does that imply it is genuine? A forger would have to acquire both coins to make a cast combining them.
Just thought I'd bump as the same coin sold on eBay is now being sold by Roma Numismatics. The previous owner has cleaned it up a little, and it looks quite a lot better. https://www.romanumismatics.com/248...e?auction_id=148&view=lot_detail&lot_id=84703 Bidding is currently £500 with about a week to go, so it looks like the person who won it on eBay is probably going to make a tidy profit...
Auction houses have the bad habit to use the sentence "From a private English collection." It is more glorious than "bought on ebay 3 months ago."
good eye, @Harry G. I believe it is the same coin indeed. And as @Ocatarinetabellatchitchix noted, I was surprised, if not shocked, by the "From a private English collection." in the description. I.e., this is worth absolutely nothing, and it's proof for what many perhaps already suspected. Sure, it's not a total scam - I mean, every coin is in someone's 'private collection', even if one has bought it from ebay and kept it in his or her cabinet for a couple of weeks - but it's at least to say not a very proper way of doing business...
Posting about this coin while it was for sale on eBay was probably not a good idea...well it was a good idea for whoever won it and then cleaned and consigned it and now ROMA gets a piece of the action. If not for this post, this coin may have slipped under the radar...no way to know now.
Tbh I doubt it. In my original post, I didn't specify that it was an eBay coin, and the seller didn't have it listed as an "Extremely rare 4 seasons Carausius antoninianus" or similar, just along the lines of "Rare Antoninianus of Carausius"
Yes, but it was very easy to find after you made your post. In fact, I went to eBay and found it in less than 2 minutes. Searched "Carausius" and looked for red backgrounds. If I could do it, so could others. The eBay seller did not have to advertise rarity because you did it here with "Extremely Rare Carausius" title
Really? I didn't know it was that easy. I'll have to stop doing that lol. I asked about an unusual barbarous coin of Tetricus that I saw on eBay a while ago, and someone bought it just after I made the post. I wish I'd just trusted my gut and bought it
I agree, such statements like "from a private English collection" or "from the collection of Sussex gentlemen" are a real nuisance. They mean absolutely nothing. and I know one auction house that uses such sentences to conceal the origin of their items. This auction house sells coins, but mostly antiquities, many of which I recognized as having been sold recently on a Ukrainian auction site for metal detectorists. To conceil this origin, they add false statements such as "from the collection of an English gentlemen, assembled in the 1970s and 80s".
On the other hand if you felt the need to ask people on a public forum advice on whether to buy or not to buy a coin, it is probably safe to assume that it's better that you didn't buy it. This is possibly a lesson to take into account in this hobby: if there is doubt, there's no doubt.
