Leisurely browsing Biddr last week I noticed this coin: https://www.biddr.com/auctions/daramuseum/browse?a=1985&l=2183637 It's being offered by a rather new auction house, Dara Antiques Museum FZE. (Company is based out of Dubai and is not an actual museum). Me being an enjoyer of Alexander, I've spent many a nights looking through the IBSCC-published forgeries of his coinage.. The obverse portrait of Herakles immediately stood out to me. I had seen it before! Obverse and reverse die match: IBSCC Bulletin on Counterfeits BOCS Vol 5 No.1/2 1980 Page 2 Fig 8 Published multiple times by IBSCC (The authoritative voice on forged coins); This coin originates from a series of pressed forgeries made in Lebanon during the 1970's. Multiple die links are known, the coin above tries to imitate Price 3426 (An issue of Ptolemy I from Arados). Here, the engraver has misinterpreted the monogram as being just an A (It's supposed to be AP for Arados, see genuine example below). Interestingly, looking through acsearch this coin has fooled multiple major auction houses in the last 10 years. Genuine example of the type: Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, Ptolemy I Soter, as satrap, AR Tetradrachm. In the name and types of Alexander III of Macedon. Arados, circa 320/19-315 BC. Head of Herakles to right, wearing lion skin headdress / Zeus Aëtophoros seated to left, holding sceptre; AΛEΞANΔPOY to right, AP (civic) monogram in left field. Price 3426 (Byblos); Müller 1375 (same) As I said, multiple die links exists of this forgery. Below is an obverse die match coupled with a reverse die of SC 117.1c, an issue of Seleucus I: Obverse die match to the Dara coin, coupled with a reverse die of SC 117.1c: IBSCC Bulletin on Counterfeits BOCS Vol 5 No.1/2 Genuine example of SC 117.1c: Seleukos I Nikator (312-281 BC). Tetradrachm. Sardes. Obv: Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin. Rev: ΣΕΛΕΥΚΟΥ / BAΣIΛEΩΣ. Zeus seated left on throne, holding eagle and sceptre. Controls: Monogram in left field, ΔΙ below throne. SC 117.1c I've already reported the Dara coin as fake via Biddr's internal system but no response has yet been received by the auction house. After reading this thread, help out your fellow collectors by reporting it! It has unfortunately gotten some new bids recently...
Congratulations and thank you for spotting this. This coin would have fooled me without any doubts. I am reporting right now.
Thanks! Let's keep Biddr on the right track together. I don't particularly trust some of their newer auction houses that they've accepted but I do believe they're responsible enough to demand forgeries like these to be withdrawn.
Interesting. Here's another example that sold @Auction in 2013: The auction house went so far as to mention this in the description: "The engraver of this reverse die mistakenly left off the “P” portion of the monogram for this issue." It is a convincing fake. What makes me take pause is the style of the legend. The letters(AΛEΞANΔPOY) look too uniform to me. Being a known published series of fakes. I would expect a skilled numismatist (employed by an auction house) to have this one memorized.
