Dear all, My name is Andrei and I would like to purchase my first roman coin from one of the options below, but unfortunately I am not sure if they are fakes or not: https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/ro...c_563_dacian_captivity_vf/654037/Default.aspx https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/ge...rms_rome_107111_ad_beauty/834501/Default.aspx https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/in...horseback_spearing_dacian/397257/Default.aspx I had a look at the section on spotting fakes but it is hard to reach a conclusion. Also since this is an online shop, I cannot follow all the steps of analysing or weighting the coin. I am sure you receive a lot of these type of these request, however as mentioned before this would be my first acquisition and I would like to make sure I do not buy a fake given the significant prices. Also if you do not mind me asking, I would have a couple of questions: Usually how authentic are these on-line stores and products? Do the “authenticity certificates” even matter? I have heard that even specialists get tricked by fakes. Would you be able to recommend some verified and trustworthy stores? I am interested in coins "from Dacia" or from the period of when a good chunk of Dacia was part of the Roman Empire. Any advice where I might find more options? Thank you very much in advance for your kind advice and support. Kind regards, Andrei
Wellcome Andrei. I'll guess you live in Romenia ? about the coins, I like the first Dupondius, the denarius seems already sold (reserved) coins from dealers on Vcoins are garanteed to be genuine , you have the right to send 'm back and get a refund if it turns out to be fake. not 100% safe but 99,9 % safe, you cant ask for more. kind regards from Andres
Welcome!!! I agree with @Andres2 ....but I'll add you should try to contact members privately with a PM instead of posting coins you are interested in and where they can be found. That said, they are all lovely and I can see no reason for you to be worried about genuineness. Once you make your first purchase you'll be as 'hooked' as any of us LOL
Like many who come to the hobby via the internet, you seem to have developed a viewpoint fearful that the market is absolutely flooded with fakes. This is easy enough to understand because people asking for confirmation of a piece's authenticity and/or status as a modern copy are tremendously over-represented on-line - the articles and letters you read here have been self-selecting for modern copies and the fear thereof as an extensively and often visited subject. (ie: people who are satisfied and happy with their coins, confident they are not fakes, write asking for information so much less than those who have been "sold on fear") It simply is not the case that there are lots and lots of dangerous fakes everywhere. The VAST majority of coins available from all sources (even on ebay, to a somewhat lesser extent) are authentic. As was pointed out, you're looking at Vcoins dealers who are held to a high standard of business practices. If, somehow, a modern copy of an ancient coin had passed one of these highly professional dealers, they guarantee to stand behind their merchandise on an open-ended basis - "guaranteed for life". If you're just starting out, however, you probably want to "cut your teeth" on some of the more common types which are seldom to never faked rather than starting out with the higher-end, scarcer and more widely pursued types. That way you can get a feeling for what unquestionably genuine ancient coins look and feel like, and begin getting your eye in on style before you begin spending more serious amounts on those higher-end types which are far more tempting subjects for the modern faker.
Yay, another Trajan fan. Wanna see my Trajans? Welcome to the dark side. Buy yourself the Trajan and head over to the ancients area of Cointalk. In this area of the forum is mostly modern stuff, but there are tons of us ancients collectors in the ancients section of this forum. Vcoins.com is good. Avoid eBay. Welcome to the dark side of collecting. Once you go ancient, you never want to collect modern coins again.
