Well I have a 'budget' example of this popular and usually pricey JC denarius: I assume both of yours are genuine.....but I can't be sure and I'll leave that up to those better able to clarify that for you. Obviously, they are often replicated. They are described as struck by the military mint traveling with Caesar, circa 49 BC. The reverse displays implements of the 'High Priest--Pontifex Maximus, a 'title' which Caesar held...and the elephant has been described as depicting 'good' (Caesar) trampling 'evil' (the snake) and to represent his victories over his Gallic enemies... If you look it up under 'Crawford 443/1', you will note all the 'varieties' and the fact all average about 4 grams www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=caesar+elephant+denarius&category=1-2&en=1&de=1&fr=1&it=1&es=1&ot=1&images=1¤cy=usd&thesaurus=1&order=0&company= If you click on the link, i think most of your questions will be answered.
I'm certainly no expert, but the style of the example on the left does not look good to me at all. There are many, many fakes of the Caesar/Elephant type denarius including some that are very convincing, bankers marks etc. Unless you know the dealer I would be very cautious. FWIW, I have three of them.
It is true. This type is faked quite often; however, I can see nothing wrong in the images. The weight is in the ballpark. To be certain, take it to someone you know that has a working knowledge of Ancients. I wish you luck.
Might the lighter example be a fourree? It has an appearance similar to at least one other JC elephant fourree I've seen.
For a newly-interested ancient person could those of you who are questioning authenticity of the left-hand one, please give me the rationale? Thanks! Steve
The photo is a really good example of fake toning vs very old toning. The coin on the right has the toning of what one sees with a coin which has been around for roughly 100 years. The left one is either applied or chemically induced. The coin itself is not a bad copy (if one would call it that). Look at the beaded border on the reverse left. Looks like whoever made it got bored or impatient and just finished the border with squiggles instead of dots.
I can't argue with the squiggles. The toning looks better in hand but the camera doesn't lie it seems!