A year ago I got this coin from an eBay seller after he lost the one I won (an Antiochus VII Lily struבk in Jerusalem). I was very disappointed at that time since I only paid 9.5 GBP for the original coin but the seller was kind enough and compensated me with this one which was listed as a 55GBP sliver Ant of Gordian III: I really like this coin but after spending many hours on CT I learned a few rules: 1. There are eBay seller with very high feedback rate that are listed on the NFSL 2. I should not buy coins from Cyprus 3. I should know the seller or know the coin Well... guess what... this one is from an eBay seller from Cyprus who is listed on the NFSL... So this bags the usual question - is this the real deal or not? A few more pictures for your enjoyment: Thanks in advance
Looks good. Gordian III antoniani are not very uncommon in good conditions. Legend on the observe has decent flow lines. Crack on observe at 8'o clock is continuing to the other side.
You got lucky and got a genuine coin, but broke the law getting it. Just don't do it again. You don't want a visit from Customs and Border Protection about illegally smuggling coins from Cyprus. Out of curiosity, what's the weight? I see the coin has moderate porosity. Usually they weigh around 4.10 to 4.70g...but ones with significant porosity can dip down into the 3.60 - 4.00g range. Here is one in the 4.7g range, and a gloriously complete flan that captures the entire die. Eastern Gordies, which yours is not one of them, are a little more underweight. Those typically are around 3.50 - 4.20g, though I've seen them as low as 3.10g with moderately to heavy porosity. I believe I have this one on consignment, weighs 3.2g or so, and has moderate porosity. My heaviest eastern ant of his weighs no more than 4.2g and has maybe very mild porosity. Im sorry, I know all of this is irrelevant to the thread.... It's just that I've owned more Gordies in my time as a collector than most here ever will, and though I've cut back on his coins lately, I still have a soft spot for his coinage and I can't help myself but to blab on and on about all things Gordian III when I have the chance.
Woah, that is heavy for the issue. Not unheard of though. Sounds like a nice coin to own. *Quality control at the mints during the Crisis years was never the best, so weights are all over the place. I'd only worry if the weight varies too much from what you'd typically expect...though I've seen enough 5+g coins that such weight doesn't raise concern. If we were talking about coins from the Republican times or even 1st and 2nd century imperials, there you'd expect certain tolerances. But from Septimius Severus forwards the weights become less reliable, and once you get to Gordian III till the establishment of the Dominate, weights are all over the place....and after Philip I the quality of stike and flan preparation begins to decline too.
Anyway, to continue my rant about weight....by the time we get to Aurelian the weighs of Roman coins were a mess due to rampart theft of metals by mint workers. Things got so bad that Aurelian had to clean house and fire the entire mint staff, and reorganized it from the ground up.
From my experience with the Cyprus NFSL sellers (mainly ancientground AKA silverdenar), they will peddle mass amounts of stuff, about 60-75% genuine and the rest dubious or outright fake. Usually the genuine stuff is material like genuine LRBs, Byzantine, Indian or Islamic, while they also sell high ticket Greek and Imperatorial coins that range from obvious fakes to things that would fool me had I seen them offered by a reputable seller. I have deliberately bought from these sellers, but ONLY for coins I know extremely well, and I always set a "line in the sand" price to avoid getting into a bid war with a shill account. As for exporting from Cyprus, the MOU laws were drafted to mainly block the export of the rare and desirable Cypriot coins, but also later coins to a lesser extent. I've bought maybe a couple dozen orders from sellers in Cyprus, and customs hasn't come a-knocking yet.
Yes 5+ grams is quite common for Gordie's ants : from the three I have....three are over 5,30 grams 5,33 grams 5,41 grams 6,95 grams (no less !) Q
Normally at 6.95g I'd be the first to say "fake," but your fat Gordie looks 100% right. I even think I recognize the style of that particular celator in other genuine Gordies I've seen....and that's as good as it gets as far as authenticity is concerned. Which leaves me with only one theory. The flan maker came back from lunch after drinking too much vino... and when he got drunk he became extremely generous about the amount of silver that went into the flans he was preparing. Yours must have been prepared straight after lunch when he was as drunk as a skunk.
Chiming in here as a relatively new collector and fellow/unintended Gordian III acquirer. Good information from everyone, and very reassuring! I just started purchasing attributed and/or "nice" ancients within the past year, having reacquainted myself w/the uncleaned coin/LRB hobby after a 15 year gap. I found myself w/a small budget looking for nice silver, and next thing you know I have a half dozen Gordian III ants VF+, alongside a few more denarii of other rulers, albeit of lesser quality. (No pics yet, still practicing.) My Gordian III ants range from 4-5.5g. While I don't have a deliberate focus yet on the hobby, what's steered me towards Gordian III is a combo of quality + pricepoint + potrait style. I have elementary age twin boys who I love introducing my hobbies to, and both them and myself really enjoy crisp "boy king" portraits...hence the Gordian III overrepresentation.