April 1st in many areas is known as "April Fool's Day," a day of pranks, practical jokes and hoaxes. To celebrate, I thought a thread of favorite ancient and modern fakes would be fun. I saw there's a thread of fun "tooled" coins but I was thinking this thread could be a place to show off coins that have either fooled us as collectors... or that we collect because they are great (or hilariously terrible) attempts to fool others. Anyway, here's a white metal cast of a Constantius II campgate. I've been trying to convince myself this is an ancient cast fake... but it's probably more likely modern. Post your favorite fakes, imitations and whatever else! Cast Fake of: Constantius II, AE follis, Arles. 327 AD. FL IVL CONSTANTIVS NOB C, laureate, draped, cuirassed bust left / VIRTVS-CAESS, campgate, 6 layers, 4 turrets, open doors with panels. S-F across fields. Mintmark ARLQ. RIC VII Arles 316.
Here's a coin that is absolutely hideous... and I'm keeping it because it's hard to find. Of course I'd like a better one but the price was good for this hard to find coin, and they're all in rather pitiful condition. These things must've circulated to death! EGYPT, Alexandria. Augustus 80 drachmai (diobol); 26 mm, 14.2 gm First series, struck circa 30-28 BC Obv: bare head right Rev: eagle standing left on thunderbolt; cornucopia to left, Π to right Ref: Emmett 1; RPC I 5001 I believe @lordmarcovan has an Eid Mar suitable for this occasion
Rimp AR Denarius AR Brutus EID MAR COPY by Slavei ex FSR 103 Ummm, I will keep the person anonymous, but I did casually tell a coin friend that I got this for an amazing low-cost of $150,000...
My next door neighbor gave me a fake Alexandrian tet of Nero when I was a little kid. Actually I thought it was real (as did he) until I realized that it was cast in a shiny brass tone. So it was a modern copy of an original coin. I have no idea where he got it.
Early in my collecting days, I inadvertently bought this fake Parthian on eBay, and have kept it ever since as a reminder to always look carefully at every coin I buy. There are multiple signs of casting on this one, but there's also one other huge red flag: the obverse and reverse designs are about 100 years apart. It's like finding a US Barber quarter obverse with a State Quarter reverse- you don't need to spot a casting seam to know that something's fishy.
