A load of Fakes?

Mind you, these are not my coins. They belong to a coin shop in Brandon. However, I am thinking of making him an offer for the Philip. Not sure just yet. I just purchased another Philip I last week, but different reverse.

 

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im not convinced the Galerius is a fake, just badly cleaned/poor quality

 

Can anyone identify the empress?

 

Julia Mamaea

 

Thanks Doug.

 

Of us all YOC could expertise the Galerius simply by cleaning it. If he applied his usual techniques to a fake with modern fake crud on the surfaces, it would not react as he would expect from a coin of the type. Photos like these could include a sleeper genuine coin but whenever we see coins like 1, 3, 5, 7 and 8, it is good to doubt the rest. The Mamaea by itself strikes me as possibly just abused and misunderstood but the surfaces match the Philip II so well that I can not see them being different. Which of these coins are worth the risk? If you offered $10 for the lot, the seller would be convinced you were a crook. What is the Philip I worth? Under the circumstances it is not full retail even though our little group of experts say it may be OK. I'd be inclined to value the relationship with the seller in case you plan on returning to his shop again more highly than the coin. After having these fakes will he buy the next group of ancients that comes in his door?

 

I just spoke with the owner. Needless to say, he was disappointed. I've offered to help him when someone brings in Ancients before he lays out any cash. Obviously, he knows very little about Ancients. The problem is that I only go to his shop whenever I make it to his area which is as seldom as possible. In the case of these coins, he told me to hold onto them until I come back to town. I did not make an offer on the Philip and I feel badly for him. It's a very small shop which I believe does not have a lot of turnover.

 

That is unfortunate for him and I think he needs to understand that one can not just jump into ancients without some knowledge. Does he use or own any references? This is a hobby/business that requires patience, attention to detail, and knowledge of processes from a bygone Era. One can certainly start buying and may get lucky, but I would much rather be an informed consumer. I started by buying uncleaned LRB by the thousand. After a few lots you learn quite a bit. Logically it wouldn't have made sense to start buying aureui after that, but rather move into something like base metal byzantine. Otherwise it's easy to get burned.

 

After my last little incident maybe my opinion of genuineness is not terribly important, but right off the top coins 2, 4, and 5 all having mushy details and fake dirt makes me think they are false. I am guessing modern tourist fakes.

Any seams?

 

No seems, but like I said from the start, where there is smoke there is probably fire. Where there is one fake, the others are suspect. The only coin not in the baggy was the Philip I. I'm almost certain it is not fake. Regardless, I am returning them all to the shop owner.