Every now and then I post something here about another batch of fakes that I have stumbled across that I feel deserve to be brought to your attention. This is typically when I find a batch that contains a number that I haven't found in the standard Fake Reports. I am in the middle of loading up all these (and many more) to the Forvm Fake reports. This ebay seller is on the Forvm NFSL, which is a red flag straight away and one that I generally don't pay any notice to but saw a coin that caught my attention before I looked twice at it.... An eastern Septimius Severus, COS II, Mars issue turned up on one of my search lists. I hadn't looked who was selling but the general look of the surfaces and the probable remain of the casting sprue made me look at the other offerings more closely. what about this Calpurnius Piso or this Cornelius Lentulus I know that some of you will be shaking your head and saying that you don't need to look in the fake reports to know that these are off but that is easy to say when you see a batch of them together and you know that I am calling them out. Would you be able to call them out in isolation if they turned up in a reputable auction house listing with different images..... Be careful out there....
Ebay could easily get 95%+ of the fakes removed by having one slightly knowledgeable person spend 5 mins a week removing the obvious fake sellers..
Compare it to the one I showed above. Different venue, different lighting, different photos. Equally fake.
Geez, the Calpurnius Piso and Cornelius Lentulus coins look identical. The background of the top 3 picks appears identical to an Irish EBay fake seller I discovered a few months ago when they were trying to sell a fake Tarentum diobol with facing head of Athena. Thanks for the heads up, Martin.
What is the world coming to when they start faking Septimius? I don't have a match for that one. You?
I don't have a die match. I do have a matching one for type. I have double die matches for your first coin illustrated and an obverse die match but different reverse to the second. Seeing the first one has made me want to track mine down. I had it listed as doubtful in my records (it is was very early purchase for me). Mine is very work, very dirty and according to my notes seemed to show coppery tones. I need to dig it out and have a look. Same obverse die but MARTI this time Here is my obverse match to your second A COS I - MARTI VICT (I have it as COS I but perhaps it's a COSI-I - do you have this obverse die) I do like this COS II - MARTI VICTOR. It's one of those dies with the dot in the L on the obverse legend and another between the E and the V even though they aren't separated.....
@dougsmit It's not the only Septimius fake they have offered either. The CONSECRATIO - funeral pyre type is often seen as faked but these are typically all derived from the Lipanoff (illustrated below) These are offering something different After the recent thread on ADVENTI AVG FELICISSIMO I was interested to see that type in their offerings There is a VOTA SVSCEPTA XX, which I have seen elsewhere recently but can't find in my limited searching And then there is a Barbarous imitative of a VICT PART MAX. I had seen this offered elsewhere too and had been temped to bid as an oddity but will steer clear in future. I will try and find the images of the coins that I have seen offered elsewhere are they might also be useful. These have been added to the Forvm Fake Reports
Gaius Naevius Balbus, denarius serratus Newly added to fakes reports:- and from a major auction house in 2017
Thanks for adding these to the Forvm Fake Reports! I haven't bought any RRs, but I always check these reports before buying anything.
Anither one that I found also offered at auction back in 2011 Augustus, denarius, RIC 473 Obv:- AVGVSTVS, bare head right Rev:- Laurel wreath interwoven with rostra and tied with fillet, ties drawn upward across center. Pergamum mint. Struck 27 BC. RIC I 473; RSC 335; BMCRE 669 = BMCRR East 260; BN 940 Ebay fake Auction house version