...Coin of Aemillian?!....check!...Karl Becker Forgery?! ...check!....2'ofem?!?!?...Double check!! :

Last night marks for me the 1st auction coin win outside of ebay and our own ever lovin' John Anthony here on CT.. Over the last couple of weeks i've registered with several online auction houses, along with biddr* and Numisbids* looking for those hard to find/get coins(you know the type) i wanted/needed to get for my collection...yesterday i turned down a authentic(i'm purdy sure) denarius of Aemillian i had placed in my ebay watch list..after i'd asked for the weight of the coin(all his coins looked like they'd been cut from the same hunk o metal, along with "private listings" on previous sales..i was suspicious, but leaning toward OK )several days ago, the seller didn't respond until the last few hours before his auction ended(there were no bids). i responded that i'd already bought several high end(for me anyway) coins over the last month or so and i was gonna hold off for now on his..then last nite i remembered seeing 2 Karl Becker forgeries up for auction with Teutoburg Auction House(which i'd declared i wanted to get an example of for many many years.) and up until last nite, i'd bid on a couple on ebay over the years, but didn't win. now we've discussed here how there are forgeries of forgeries, but i can trace these coins back as far as 1984, when they sold at another auction. and i reckon thats good enough for me, right now anyway..^^ i haven't got the coins in hand yet, and while i am kinda superstitious i'm gonna post the sellers pics of these now, since i'm having problems posting my own photos(i'm working on fixing that too 9_9) 2 coins, 2 slots filled...i'll post an update on this thread when they come in.. post your stories and coins, or anything you feel relatable..and let's party like its 1999

POST YER COINS N COMMENTS PEEPS! Karl Becker Forgeries of emperor Aemillian denarii,(Hill 215 & 216) previously sold in Munich by Giessener Munzhandlung, auction 30, in 1984 # 3169 & 3170

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Genuine, original Becker forgeries have a collectable value of their own but I have seen fakes of the fakes including some bad enough that they had 'Becker' stamped on them. I would enjoy owning a genuine fake Becker but we have to draw the line somewhere.

 

Not an ancient but this is also a Becker forgery.



GERMANY. Frankenthal (Thirty Years' War). Friedrich V. 1612-1623. AR uniface klippe by Becker (1772-1830). 16 gm. 31 x 29 mm. 1623. Triangular pyramid, *F* below; GOTT IST VNSER ECKSTEIN 1623 around. Mailliet Supplément Pl. 42. Frankenthal 3. Becker 345. Very Fine.

Style as issued during the siege of Frankenthal by the Bavarian army and Spanish auxiliary troops.

 

Speaking of Becker ...

I wonder if anyone knows anything about this Becker type (currently listed on eBay).



I'm curious if the type itself, with the Chi-Rho behind the bust, is real. The size is given as 30mm, so it's meant to be a medallion.

Are there any known/suspected cases of Becker producing fantasy types ?

 

it is #265 in Hill's book on Becker "(P. 260) Decentius. Cp. the smaller "medallion" (AR), Gnecchi, p. 71, nos. 3,4, pl.33 no. 11. Pinder says that some specimens were issued in an earlier state, without the monogram on the obv. Cohen (VIII, p. 24, note on no. 6) gives the obv. inscr. wrongly."

 

Yes, it certainly exists as a type - without the Chi-Rho - for Decentius with the NOB CAES legend (as well as with FORT CAES), but I've only seen it as a heavy miliarense, which seems to be what Cohen is listing too.

Here's one from Triton XIX, 24mm 5.24g.



The Becker piece at 30mm purports to be some sort of medallion, and interestingly Magentius did issue at least one medallion, RIC VIII Trier 255, where the bust style seems closer to the Becker one than on this miliarense.

RIC 255 from BM, 12.94g (four siliqua ?)



But the question remains whether there is a real PRINCIPI medallion of this size for Decentius that Becker was copying, and in particular one with the Chi-Rho ?

 

The coin is the reference by Gnecchi above; but Bastien was leary of it -- "semble bien suspect et rappelle le faux de Becker"

 

Ah - thanks! So it seems there must be two different Becker Decentius PRINCIPI types. Your quote from Hill's book refers to the "smaller" medallion, and the Gnecchi plate bears that out since it happens to show the Decentius type next to the much larger BM medallion.



The Gnecchi # 11 coins differs quite a bit in style, both obverse and especially reverse from this larger 30mm Becker type, which must be closer in size to the Gnecchi #10 BM medallion. Interestingly though, the style of Gnecchi # 11 does at least match the reverse style of the genuine Decentius heavy miliarense:







It'd be interesting to see an example of the smaller Becker type for style comparison with Gnecchi # 11.

So, still no closer to knowing if this large Becker piece with Chi-Rho is copying something real or not! It seems plausible, but you'd have thought such a coin would be famous if it existed.

 

...the curse of showing coins before you get them?..probably not, but they don't do paypal and my bank suggested i not wire the money to them...so i'm back to ebay and JAZ...

 

I've always had good luck stuffing EUR notes in an envelope and crossing my fingers. Zero loss rate. You can buy EUR at some banks such as CHASE and TD Bank.

 

whatever works for ya...

 

this morning, i sent payment for the two coins....i'll post'em whens i gets them...and the auction house gave me a no time limit guarantee of these coin being authentic Karl Becker forgeries...

 

Here is my one and only Aemilianus. The same type as one of the two Becker-Forgeries above.

Obv: IMP AEMILIANVS PIVS FEL AVG
Rev.: AP OL CONSERVAT
Mint: Rome
Year: AD 253

RIC 1

 

i just ordered Sir George F. Hill's 'Karl Becker the Counterfeiter' Volumes 1 & 2, 1925..

 

received this scan from Gorny & Mosch(Giessener Munzhandlung) of their auction 30, 1984 catalogue showing indeed the 2 Becker forgeries #3169 & 3170..the coins are within a 100 miles of me now Photo material courtesy Gorny & Mosch, Munich, Germany

 

...they're here!!(i was outside waiting for my mailman).....my 1st auctionhouse buys...what an emotional/mental roller coaster its been but now its time for(again) euphoria!....^^...come celebrate wif me peeps on me Beckers, Amillians, and 1stbuy auktionhaus experience, exactly one week before my 63rd bday(nuthin wrong wif starting early when you're old)..... what do you reckon of these @dougsmit? Karl Becker Aemilian denarius forgeries,