Those of you that can spot ancient fake coins with the blink of an eye, please lend your input on this one, I am by no means an expert however when a rare ancient coin has surface roughness or pitting my fake-o-meter starts flashing red blinkers... Am I unjustified in this outlook, I really would like this coin to be authentic and i don't wish to brush it off if i am not justified??? Steven
I agree that it looks like it was very harshly cleaned, but genuine. There is a banker's mark to the neck area - I can't recall ever seeing that on a fake, but maybe someone else has.
This fills me with more confidence, I did purchase this from a fairly reputable coin seller who I have dealt with previously so all in all I am sleeping more soundly over this coin... Thank you all for your more expert opinions!!
There are pre-applied bankers' marks/test cuts on ancient counterfeits (plated silver) to make them appear more genuine, but I haven't heard of one on a modern fake.
I have seen them on cast fakes for sure. I do not remember seeing one on a struck or pressed fake, but I don't see why a transfer die couldn't also transfer a bankers marks.
Since banker's marks don't have style, I could imagine practicing a bit with a chisel on a US cent and then using the same technique on a recently make fake to add a "banker's mark" that was not cast and not in the die. I don't recall seeing a modern banker's mark on a modern fake, but if a counterfeiter had the skill to make a convincing fake I think the banker's mark part would be easy to fake.
