LANZ empties his BLACK CABINET

I read in another thread lately that LANZ doesn’t have a black cabinet. That’s not true; he is currently emptying it ! 70 « modern forgeries » for sale, sooner or later back on the market again…
https://www.ebay.ca/sch/m.html?_ssn...&_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=modern+forgery&rt=nc

Here’s a selection of these masterpieces:

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

These are all forgeries?!

 

Yes, I saw this as well and was going to post but you beat me to it! Some of these are pretty obvious forgeries, while others would definitely fool those with modest experience. Out of the ones you posted, the Balbinus looks the most deceptive, although there were several others Lanz posted that I noted were also pretty deceptive. It definitely makes me think twice about the coins he posts as "real"... he still continues to post fake Marc Antony legionary denarii as the genuine article. I will probably not trust anything Lanz ever puts out there again as genuine, unfortunately.

 

I don't think he is emptying his black cabinet though... he seems to have an unlimited supply of fake coins recently...

The scary thing is that people are actually bidding them up to respectable prices sometimes...

 

Yes I've been noticing it for several weeks whenever I go to bid on the Celtic coins. I didn't realize it was a new thing...

I only started checking his inventory when I realized he's selling the coins from Hermann Lanz's collection of Celtic coins (again!).

Incidentally, does anyone know why (Hubert) Lanz is in possession (again) of so many of his father's collection of Celtic coins after it sold at Roma over several auctions ca. 2019?

(Don't get me wrong, I'm glad for another shot at them!)

The coins didn't go unsold, so I can only assume he bought a great many of them himself. I thought that very odd since I assumed he was also the consignor/executor of his father's numismatic estate. And even more so, since he didn't then keep them but has been reselling them slowly on ebay (often getting less than they hammered originally).

Here's the example I got from Savoca (21 Nov 2021) after being sold by Hubert Lanz on eBay (26 Sep 2021), after having purchased it from Roma Auction 18 (29 Sep 2019), 115. Many others have followed a similar route. The Roma photo & description follows:

The Prof. Hermann Lanz Collection
Celts in Eastern Europe AR Drachm. Baumreiter Type. Circa 3rd century BC. Celticised, bearded head to right / Rider on horseback to left. Göbl, OTA pl. 13, 134/1; Lanz 422 (this coin). 3.35g, 15mm, 10h.
Very Fine. Rare.

From the Hermann Lanz Collection; this coin published in M. Kostial, Kelten im Osten - Gold und Silber der Kelten in Mittel- und Osteuropa - Sammlung Lanz (Staatlichen Münzsammlung München, 1997);

This coin exhibited by the Staatlichen Münzsammlung München at the 1997 International Numismatic Congress in Berlin; at the Berliner Bank also in 1997; also exhibited at the Luitpoldblock Palmengarten, Munich in 2003 (exhibition #84[obverse]).​

 

Are you sure the ones he's "reselling" are genuine? I wouldn't trust anything he sells or says. He's almost another Sadigh, except with coins.

 

Is he identifying these as fake or selling them as genuine?

 

Those are pretty bad but not surprising. I never pay attention to see if this is their most yet at one go or the norm.

All I can do is shake my head and continue to avoid.

 

Described as: MODERN FORGERY - MODERNE FÄLSCHUNG.

 

He's identifying the ones in the OP as modern forgeries. Which doesn't make it any less unethical to put them on the market, in my opinion.

 

I agree, people will buy them to resell as genuine...

 

Frank lists some labeled fakes in his auctions all the time too.

 

I know, and I'm not crazy about his doing so. But there's no comparison to Lanz. A couple of identified fakes out of hundreds of coins is not the same thing as a dealer who essentially sells nothing but fakes, some labeled and some not.

 

I can't understand how he gets away with it. Forgeries are made to deceive, he should be shut down

 

He's definitely selling other fakes (the ones OP's discussing are labeled as such) but I'm pretty confident the Hermann Lanz (his father) coll. coins are from the original Roma sales.

If he pulled that off, it'd be a major failure of the numismatic community as a whole to notice, since that collection is probably one of the best documented & often cited Celtic collections ever. It'd be kinda like trying to sell fakes of the plate coins in Sear's Greek Coins and Their Values and no one noticing (with the added difficulty of all those coins having recently been dispersed to other collectors and dealers in high profile sales).

Whatever other mischief he may be up to, I'm having trouble seeing that one work.