I think I bought a fake. Help, please.

In defense of EBAY they have a form to sign that you have DESTROYED the fake ancient and refund your money.

 

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I didn't buy the eBay coin. I bought a VCoins coin. The eBay coin alerted me to the likelihood that I had bought a fake.

 

They are indeed the same. If Gavin's is genuine then it was the host coin for the Ebay example. There are some subtle differences but it is common for forgers to alter their dies in small ways to make their end product appear as from different dies. Keep in mind that while its very common to encounter coins from identical die pairs, it is not possible for graffito to be identical.

I would initiate the return process, or you could send it to Sear for a report (I would make the dealer pay for that though). I myself took back a fake I sold a couple years back (it really fooled me and several other dealers, but not Sear), and I paid all associated costs. Its just the right thing to do.

 

I know what you said its easy to fooled even the experts

Don't "beat yourself up"... it is easy to be fooled. Look at the art forger-er that took years to expose and only because his WHITE was just a tiny bit off.

 

On the bright side of Ancient Coin Collecting Even if you make a MISTAKE you have something to show for it! Take Carnivorous Plant collecting you buy an expensive Nepenthe's and it dies you have nothing but experience! lol

 

I guess this is FAKE too?

 

I don’t claim to have the expertise to render judgments about other peoples’ coins. I’ve proclaimed someone else’s coin a fake only once on this board and was wrong, so I learned my lesson.

All I know is that the coin I own has too many similarities to the one on eBay for me to keep it, so back it goes.

 

I wont trust vcoins anymore. I was sold a fake denarius last month.

 

I can appreciate the frustration. I've patronized VCoins dealers for years and will continue to do so. I am hoping that this experience is an exception to a general rule that VCoins dealers do due diligence to guard against fakes. I truly believe that is the case.

But even within VCoins, there are some dealers I trust more than others. Suffice it to say that my trusted dealers circle might be growing a bit smaller.

 

I found some good deals on Amazon Marketplace. Bought a beautiful Mark Antony for under 200. Amazon guarantees it. Jeff Bezos is soon to be richer than Crassus was. Avoid Ebay. Most of them are very good modern fakes. They treat the coins with patina to age them artificially. It can fool some of the best experts. Look for coins a little worn and no tooling evidence.

 

Do you think the sellers are better on Amazon? That's a rhetorical question, because I do not think that most are even close. Much of the stuff that I have seen on Amazon is over-priced junk for the unwitting and uneducated buyer that is impressed by any old coin.

 

Almost by definition, a forged ancient coin doesn't need to be tooled, since all the enhancement will have been done before the fake coin was cast or struck. So tooling is almost always evidence of an authentic coin, not a forgery.

Pretty much all modern forgeries of ancient coins are artificially worn to make them look authentic, so again, being "a little worn" is not dispositive for a coin's being authentic.

The best protection against forged ancient coins is to buy from reputable dealers who unconditionally guarantee the authenticity of their coins. If a coin is doubtful, it can be authenticated by an expert. As far as I can determine, Jeff Bezos is not considered an expert on the authenticity of ancient coins, regardless of how rich he is.

 

I have to admit I am very surprised that fooled you. It doesn't even look close to being genuine. I have been fooled before but it isn't that easy with me.

 

I just meant they guarantee it and you don have to fight with the seller to get a refund.

On Amazon ,Jabb coin consultants is pretty reliable. genuine COA with each coin.
I would avoid Ancient Coin house. they are pretty good but I catch a fake one here and there.

 

Oh man, that sucks @Gavin Richardson Keep us posted on how it turns out.

 

You must be an expert...

I spotted a number of fakes in just a dozen pages of that seller. Considering there are over 2,000 listings I got bored looking at more. What was genuine was mostly over-priced junk. Those that were decent condition were absurdly and grossly priced.

 

COA's aren't worth the paper that they are printed on unless they are issued by a real authority. COA's are one way that some sellers con buyers into trusting them more.

 

I have to agree that there are too many similarities between both coins to conclude any else but that it is either the same, or one a copy of the other.

Absolutely correct.
A couple of years ago I ran into a sestertius of Pertinax that looked interesting.
Due to asking price, I asked the dealer for a guarantee of authenticity.
The dealer proceeded to produce an impressive C.O.A......produced and signed by himself.
I walked away without the coin.

 

I have this coin straight from Uncle John's attic, complete with COA signed by dear Uncle John himself, guaranteeing this to be a genuine ancient/medieval/old coin or token minted by Greeks/Romans/humans and it comes with a lifetime return guarantee (Uncle John's lifetime). And you know that is good because Uncle John signed it himself while on life support at Hialeah Hospital. Send $1,000,000 via Bitcoin to my untraceable account and this beauty and it's Certificate of Authenticity are all yours.