What is going on with the Roman bronzes?

Oho! There are coins other than the forged ones that can irritate you even more! If were in the possession of an expensive sestertius with fillings and you were one day hinted at this fact, then you would wish to have purchased a counterfeit instead because:

"There is no right of return, hey, genuine! it is only fillings... Be happy..."

You will hate these tampered coins most.

 

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Hey dawg => Doug has already rung my bell with regards to smoothing and/or tooling (it stung, but it was the best lesson "ever"!!)

Bosporian Kings, Sauromates I
- Implements of Battle –
Æ 48 Units
Date: circa 98-104 AD
Size: 27.94 mm
Weight: 9.49 grams
Obverse: TIBEPIOC IOYΛIOC BACIΛEYC CAYPOMATHC, Sauromates seated right on curule chair, holding sceptre tipped with the head of Trajan
Reverse: TEIMAI BACIΛEωC CAYPOMATOY, Round shield with spear, surrounded by battle axe, horse head, helmet, and sword in scabbard, mark of denomination (MH) below




... oh, and "yes" => although I learnt (learned) this important message that day, I am 100% sure that I've gleefully purchased a few other babies that may have had a bit more tool-attention than deserved ...

... on the up-side => I am only trolling in the $200 coin pool, so it probably doesn't hurt "quite" as much (just the ego gets burned!!)



Thanks for the heads-up, Marc (you have very cool coins, my friend ... very cool)

 

Famous last words. If someone says this to you and you ever deal with them again, I have zero sympathy for you. If there is one thing that needs to be accomplished in the hobby it is to watch the crooks starve to death without tear one. I don't care if their firm is named after the greatest numismatist of all times, we do not need them.

 

Thanks for the public service announcement, TIF. Even though the fakes were eventually identified and withdrawn, it's disheartening that they even appeared in a major auction to begin with.

 

Sad but true, this scandalous auction is just the tip of the iceberg. Of course, the amount of the counterfeits was extraordinary but one clearly has to state that virtually all auction houses leave it up to their clients to assess the quality of the material. In a grossly negligent manner, they are omitting to describe the items offered in their behalf correctly especially regarding tampering. And I could bet some of the persons in charge do this despite better knowledge.

It is only a small comfort that collectors are only cheated with tampered coins in the vast majority of cases.

What does this mean for me?

Even though I am exclusively purchasing my coins aside from Ebay, I feel always self-responsible to ascertain what happened to the coin since it would be foolhardy to trust the catalog descriptions. This means I have either try to acquire larger, more meaningful photos, provide myself a second opinion by fellow collectors or let the coins inspects by an independent expert. Further, bronzes will not get in my bank deposit box in a non-tested state! It is a shame, that auction houses leave this up to me.

 

That's me! I buy ancients and while experienced, have avoided becoming an expert. Also ever since Dennis Kroh retired I could never find anyone experienced in the trade to give me any info.

For example I paid a particularly stupid amount of money for a Didius Julianus sestersius that I thought was nice and just recently saw a pix of one that sold at NYC for half the price of mine yet appeared a whole lot nicer. I always thought these were uncommon coins but they are no longer.

Now with the meltdown in Roman bronzes it seems that a few areas are particularly plague-infested which I am foolish enough to pursue. I love the Aes Grave series and have gotten 1 nice but common piece (As, Janus/ Galley Prow). I thought mine was exceptionally nice but that doesn't matter anymore with these bronzes. Recently an exceptional and earlier piece (auction cover plate coin) sold for a trivial amount. I like the full As's as I can hit potential burgelers with them if they ever try to break in.

Other foolish bronze sentiments are possibly upgrading my VF Caligula "ad locuto cohortum" sestersius TRP I? of 37/38 AD for a high end example. Also possibly getting a decent sesterius of Vitellius and of course a nice double S of TJ (Trajan decius).

Any recommendations on dealers who can help? I know one who's friendly but he absolutely doesn't touch stuff like this.

 

I was a dealer and collector for many years until I left the hobby in 2007. I returned a little more than a year ago and most of my coins have been purchased either directly or indirectly (as agent) from Edward J. Waddell, Ltd. Ed is very experienced, gives detailed descriptions and recommendations regarding coins, and is almost uncanny at predicting prices realized. I highly recommend him! http://www.coin.com/

 

What is going on with Roman bronzes?

 

Actually I know Ed but haven't talked with him in years (like 20). There were 2 of us friends who used to hang out together and go to all the coin showings when CNG did those traveling coin shows. I think I've bought a few things from Ed but can't remember. There was also an Ancient Coin Collecting group that used to meet in a library in Houston many years ago!

My friend dropped out of coin collecting and began collecting junk, while I stayed in coins but digressed to cheap Latin American "early Republican" crowns as well as buying the occasional Ancient.

I also like Tom Cerlind as he loves to talk about coins but I don't know if he gets the type of stuff I'm looking for.

There were some other dealers who did some very strange suspicious things. While I am not adept at counterfeit detection, some of the coins I wonder about...

Anyhow tks for the info, I'll give Ed a call.