Anyone care to bid on this Colosseum sestertius? What a bargain! Apparently "All Items are Acquired From Legitimate Sources Such as Galleries, International Coin Fairs and Old British and European Collections. authenticity guarantee for lifetime". Says the guy with 94% positive feedback and general feedback comments claiming his coins are fake! https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/TITUS-Sestertius-Sesterce-ancient-ROME-Colosseum-very-rare/154079602973
That person is a well known fake seller, whose old ID's include stardust310, aeternitas-coins, heavencoins18, classic-coin-shop and domus-aurea-coins
I wish eBay was as stringent with removing these fake sellers as they are with removing sellers of fake Gucci/Louis Vuitton etc.
Im pretty sure this "beauty" was made closer to the building of this Colosseum: (And sadly, not by the same designers) And at 30 bones currently, I might just buy it up for laughs and be one more person reporting "Fraud!" On his feedback.
I've a question I hope one of you can answer. I went to look at that guy's feedback and all his sales were "Private listing." What does that mean? Does the buyer or seller set that?
Too bad he doesn't have the "make an offer" feature on this auction - I could have some fun with that!
@DEA I read that feature was added to hide potentially embarrassing items in the buyer's history, but whenever I saw a private listing, the seller and the item were suspicious (coins, antiques, militaria, cell phones). So it's probably used by sellers trying to limit their visibility and restrict the feedback.
Thank you, @fomovore! I've had that impression ("the seller and the item were suspicious") but I had nothing to base it on.
From the little I’ve picked up in less than a year, I assume this is a fake because the colosseum only is one one or a few coins and is rare I think. Besides that, what gives this coin away? It looks like a lot of coins I’ve cleaned. I see a casting tube (forgot name) on one end, but I’ve seen that plenty of times on genuine coins because to my knowledge flans are created from casting, then were struck with dies (correct?). We can’t see the edge for a seam, so what else besides knowledge of the design?
- The reputation of the seller. - His inventory. The fact that he is selling only highly sought after rare coins. - The fact that all his coins have a similar patina; they have all been artificially aged using the same method. - The fact that he isn’t a well known dealer and yet possesses these fantastic rarities with zero provenance. These coins are rare enough that you should be able to locate some of them in the archives of major auction houses. That is enough for me to condemn all the coins he’s selling - I don’t really need to investigate further. Once when I was a newbie I bought a monogram Julius Nepos nummus. Too late, I realised this seller had four other Julius Nepos coins on offer. You’d never find a seller with an inventory of genuine coins like that!
I really appreciate your reply. Very good to know. I’ve been collecting modern world coins for almost a decade and recently got into ancients, so fortunately I haven’t got burned with ancients yet, but have of course years ago in those other collecting areas. Shows you the lack of morality with some individuals, very shameful. They should rot in jail
Wow! A Mark Antony sestertius! Current bid, only 3.22 GBP! Those who feast on the ignorance of the unknowing are what makes this world a sad place.
The seller sets this. This prevents people from contacting the buyers and letting them know that the coin they bought was fake.
Well....I do not know anything of his EBay vendor, but I can relate my own EBay experience. I set up an eBay account quite some time ago....you never know when you might want to purchase something. That being said, I have never bought, or sold, anything on eBay. One day, I got a notification from the eBay powers-that-be asking why I hadn't sent the merchandise I sold on their site (I believe it was dolls or something, but to be fair, it's been awhile). Well, it wasn't me....I never got paid, nor did I ever make a listing selling dolls or whatever. I replied such, called them....and I believe got eBay blackballed. Just saying, sometimes, things happen, promulgated by nefarious individuals, and completely out of our own control.