I originally found this on ebay from a seller I buy from (on vcoins and ebay, the coin is listed on both) and I contacted him about it adding links to die matches. Unfortunately he doesn't believe and it's still up. It's a convincing so be careful and do your research before you buy a coin you don't know about. http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/ric/fakes2009.htm https://www.forumancientcoins.com/fakes/displayimage.php?album=search&cat=0&pos=6
We always say, "Know the coin or know the seller." Randy knows the coins when it comes to FTR. Now he knows the seller but not in a good way. Nominate him for the Fake Seller Lists. Maybe you will stop him from cheating someone else. In the long run it makes little difference whether a fake is sold out of deceit or out of ignorance unless there is a chance of correcting ignorance. You tried.
I'll give him one more day first, then I'll try contacting vcoins and doing the NFS list. It's a shame, I got a lot of neat FH from him.
Another one I found from a seller I was potentially going to buy from (ramdoc333bc) EMPRESS SAINT HELENA 306 AD & CONSTANTIUS I RARE 2-HEADED SILVER SILIQUA Sold, after being notified, by ramdoc333bc on ebay Sellers response "Sorry..... you are wrong. I bought this from a foreign seller who had a perfect 100% feedback rating......... In fact, eBay looked into his store and now is fulling accepting of this seller. You don't get 100% feedback if you are selling fake coins.......... Think about it. ramdoc"
I'm very disappointed by his reaction. He has a reputation of an honest seller, on ebay for almost 10 years and "We offer a lifetime guarantee of authenticity, along with over 18 years of experience in dealing with ancient coins and artifacts" (Vcoins). Usually when a guy put his own personal name in his business name it's a good sign. Could it be what english people call a "brain fart" ?
I know, I've bought several coins of his. He was by no mean rudes, polite actually, in his reply to me and I don't wish to out him by name. I see this fake (along with the galley type) pop up a lot on ebay and vcoins and I get a lot of different response. Only once did a seller recognize it and remove it after I contacted him. One seller on french vcoins took a lot of screaming and yelling from a lot of people to at least list them as fake coins (which he still sold).
100% positive feedback on eBay means nothing. I always tell sellers I am posting their fakes here. That usually gets an immediate refund. John
Sometimes looking at a lot of fakes doesn't keep you out of trouble. As an example, I saw one of these in a random eBay listing and immediately recognized it. ...but I couldn't place where or why. Rather than remembering it as a fake I had seen before... I assumed it was a squirrely variety, different and interesting. So, I bought it for about $7. Of course researching it, I found that it was fake. I kept it anyway. Other than the weird striations... this particular example is pretty convincing in-hand for many characteristics (except for the Aztec mound). Other identical examples are much less convincing. Constans, Phoenix Obv:- D N CONSTANS P F AVG, pearl diade, cuirassed bust right Rev:- FEL TEMP - REPARATIO, Phoenix on pyre with wreath. Mintmark gamma SIS delta. Fake RIC VIII Siscia 241 Here's an image of more of them... http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/ric/fakes_2009/constans_1.jpg ...and the page of additional fakes this link is listed within... http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/ric/fakes2009.htm
Yes, but the worst ones are the ones you know deep down are bad but you so very much want to be good that you can't accept it. In this case the loss is more than just a bad coin but loss of a long term dealer source. I've lost several dealer friends over the years. I can accept that some died but the ones that hurt most are the ones who turned out not to be worthy of our trust.
Just a quick update: nothings changed lol. I sent a few more links to seller, and sent an email with links to vcoins (doubt they'll do anything edit: I stand corrected, it's listed as not available on vcoins now). I believe it was a mistake however and I'm reluctant to add him to the fake seller list, but did add the coin to fake reports and I'll probably make a post of forvm about the coin.
"randygeki" "I contacted him about it adding links to die matches." The die matches are not condemning and so meaningless becasue these are transfer die fakes copied from authentic coins. These are pressed transfer die fakes with artificial patina but authentic coins exist from these dies. You can see that the dotted border is incomplete or cut by some of these or that parts of letters are cut. Modern hand cut dies do have compelte dotted border and not incompete letters. Only die matches to fakes from modern hand cut dies must be fake. Die matches to cast, electrotype or transfer die fakes can be authentic if the mother used to produced these fakes was authentic. DIE MATCHES TO FAKES CAN BE BUT NEEDEN`T BE FAKE ! So it is always very important to know why coins are fake !
After researching on my coin, I was under the impression that ALL coins with this style mound on the reverse were shown to be fake and from modern dies. There are several FORVM threads on these types dating back to 2009 (I can add links later). I’d be interested in proof or examples of authentic coins of this style but so far, I have seen no arguments for them.
I am curious to hear why modern hand cut die fakes have ghost line (showing exactly the flanshape and imperfections of mother), cut letters where flan of mother ended and soft details and incomplete dotted border. And why there is not any of these coins without this problems. I have see many many hundreds of modern hand cut dies but not any with these problems. And I have seen hundreds of transfer dies and many had exactly these problems. Victor_Clark "there are not any." How can you know? You know all coins from this emission ever minted or at least all in museum collections from excavations and published in literature etc. These coins are nothing really special so they are generally not digitalized and published so many many are laying in museum collections and no one cares and is publishing them. Condemnation based on style alone is error-prone and not really reliable. Fakes from modern hand cut dies can have perfect style and couldn´t been detected based on style and authentic coins can have sometimes have strange style and could be condemned based on their different style only (this has happend often enough in the past, that authentic coins were condemned and later rehbilitated). Otherwise a real prove that the style is not possible would be interesting. The question is not if fakes from these dies exist, they do but they are transfer die fakes, the real question is if only fakes exist from these die or if authentic coins do exist from these dies, too. And the problem ist that, some are memorizing fake reports and thinking that all coins from these dies must be fake without understanding waht actually is wrong with them.
Do any of these look authentic??? And the guy has a 100% feedback. The ones who left negative feedback and reported his coins as fakes appear to have been ignored. Are links allowed on this forum if the intention is good? https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/spqr_numismatics/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=