Hi All, have been collecting roman+ancients for 2 years now and a weakness i am willing to admit is i am over confident in the abilities of the current forgers and lacking in the skilly myself to identify the fakes. Hopefully you all don't mind if i post pictures of coins that i purchase and if you are able to let me know if there is anything fishy about it, many thanks in advance for any help. This is a recent purchase for $40 let me know if it is legitimate or worthy of a resolution centre ticket. Thanks again
Welcome to cointalk! Nothing screams fake about it, but there are people more knowledgeable about Septimus here who can weigh in. If you are worried about fakes try vcoins.com, CNG, etc. There have been threads listing good sellers from time to time. John
Style looks OK, no obvious trace of casting, no ´soapy’ details. But authentification from a picture is always tricky. Here’s a little game with some RIC 266 like yours. Can you find the real one from the three ?
I have shied away from declaring coins authentic or not just from images, but there are some I can provide an opinion. This one I think is legit. I would also tell you that when asking for opinions, you need to provide weight and dimensions which will go a long way to help someone formulate an opinion. One other thing. You might want to ask for those opinions before you buy. BTW, $40 is a great price if it is authentic. SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS AR Denarius OBVERSE: SEVERVS PIVS AVG, laureate head right REVERSE: INDVLGENTIA AVGG, IN CARTH in ex, Dea Caelestis in elaborate headdress riding right on lion, holding thunderbolt & scepter; below, water gushing from rocks left Struck at Rome, 204 AD 3.5g, 18mm RIC IV 266
I am no authenticator. The surfaces seem altered. Although the coin has a descent look to it there are the halo's around the devices. Just something seems off with this one.
Hi again, Thanks again for all the help with this, appreciate your time Unfortunately i have been trying for the last 10 minutes to get a good image of the edges but the cameras auto focus doesn't want to switch off or play ball with me. The weight of it is 3.02g and the diameter is 1.9-2cm, hope this helps.
I see nothing from the image of the OP to cause me any concern. It is impossible to state that a coins is authentic from an image alone however.
There is a crack on the obverse at around 5:30 that appears in the reverse around 6:30. Does the crack go all the way through the flan or does it appear to be filled in the center with metal? If the crack appears on both sides of the coin but is solid metal in the center, then the coin is probably cast. If you can see it go all the way through then it is probably not cast.
I also have stopped saying OK to photo ID. I do not like the coin because of the surface erosion which reminds me of the top two ocat.... coins which I consider fakes from the same batch. There are enough buyers now who accept poor surfaces that it can be profitable to abuse new looking fakes with acid and abrasion to cover up signs of their being new manufacture. The problem is that modern batch cleaning abuses real coins in a similar manner. I don't care if a coin is real or fake in such cases. I don't want either. This very common type for Septimius and Caracalla has several minor variations based on whether the goddess holds a staff of not, a thunderbolt or drum and whether she faces to the right or faces the viewer. Some of these are a great deal more scarce than others. I am not a specialist in later Rome mint Septimius like these and do not have all the details in mind but these are coins that lend themselves to study by specialists if they interest you. Thunderbolt, staff, facing right drum, staff, facing front Caracalla, I do not own a no staff example.
While this coin is outside my specific area of familiarity, I agree with Doug's opinion here for the following reason: In the OP coin, note that the letters in the obverse legend PIVS AVG exhibit good relief (coming to a sharp, not blunt, edge) and shape, yet there are no flow marks from striking as in the genuine example below it: No evident flow marks: Note evident flow marks around obverse circumference esp. in area of top of head and PIVS AVG legend: This makes me think the OP coin was pressed but not hammer-struck.
thank you all for your feedback on this coin, as always i appreciate your time from whats been said it looks like ill be returning it as there are some serious questions around its authenticity.
The "flow marks" aspect of the OP is confusing me. Aren't those flow marks radiating outward from IVSAV area of the obverse legend? Or am I seeing something else? If the OP is indeed fake, it is a pretty scary one - it looks good to me - but you guys know way more about these things than I do. I am really glad this came up, because I have a INDVLGENTIA Carthage denarius that I think may be fake. Below are photos, and I'd really appreciate opinions. The biggest red flag is its weight - it is only 1.78 grams, pretty low for even a Severan denarius. On the other hand, it might be suffering from internal crystallization. It has an edge chip that might indicate this:
