A very well known fake on auction at a very well known auction site, and at their premier auction no less. Buyer beware. https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=lot&sid=5292&lot=1009 The auction description: Constantius II. AD 337-361. AV Solidus (22mm, 4.61 g, 1h). Antioch mint, 8th officina. Struck AD 347-355. FL IVL CONSTAN TIVS PER P AVG, rosette-diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right / GLORIA REI PVBLICAE, Roma seated facing and Constantinopolis seated half-left with right foot on prow, each holding scepter in left hand, with their right hands supporting shield inscribed VOT/ XX/ MVLT/ XXX in four lines; SMANH. RIC VIII 84; Depeyrot 6/4; Biaggi –. Lustrous, hairlines. EF. Superb detail. Rare. From the Dr. John Whitehead Collection. The links on forgery network. There are more on Forvm Fake reports. This type was condemned in 1976. Easily identified by a die break on the reverse at about 5h. http://www.forgerynetwork.com/asset.aspx?id=Ez/ef4mRYog= http://www.forgerynetwork.com/asset.aspx?id=f21epMTo~x~3g=
With the slight doubling of the inscription in the exergue I would have thought this genuine. Assuming the original condemnation is correct, this is a hell of a fake.
It is possible that this example on auction is the authentic mother I suppose, but I doubt it. There have been many, many twins of this type sold in auctions. But I didn't expect to see one offered by this particular auction house.
The other fakes show the doubling also. I was not trying to argue that the coin is genuine. Rather, little striking imperfections like that are one of the characteristics I have used as a rule of thumb when judging a coin’s authenticity. It is distressing to see it cannot be relied upon.
its always good to debate these issues..i study on them hard...fakes...o word of fear in the coin world...but i have come to admire those forgers who excel in their trade, altho they still be the enemy, they keep us on our toes.. Carl Becker Aemilian forgeries
Wayne Sayles wrote a book, Classical Deception. The OP type of Constantius II https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=lot&sid=5292&lot=1009 is pictured as a "Beirut School Forgery" on page 60. They are identical down to the diagnostic die break from the "E" to the border at 4:00 on the reverse.
That is a very worrying forgery. I wonder if this talented forger made other forgeries that have gone undetected.
Richard, thanks for the alert ! Did you inform CNG about your findings ? I spotted a well known fake in their Auction 506 about two weeks ago, then sent them an email, & they pulled the coin from their auction. I posted an article about the coin on CT 12 days ago that didn't generate a lot of interest, see the link below. https://www.cointalk.com/threads/fake-byzantine-solidus-spotted-from-cng-506.390513/
@Al Kowsky , I saw that post and appreciated it. The false Constantius II and Romanus III solidi have been known and published for decades. That they entered a major auction regardless means the auction house is not doing a simple check for authenticity, which is very troubling. I have known enough to carefully check any Romanus III solidus against know counterfeits for 30 years, and I am not a professional numismatist. @Tejas we discussed a Theodosius II barbarous solidus some months ago. Do you have any more information about its authenticity?
Email CNG - they are prompt about removing forgeries. Even the most reputable houses make mistakes. In the meantime, paging @Ardatirion to view this thread.
Hrefn, I did search through Guy Lacam's books for anything similar to Dirk's coin without success . Unfortunately his books were composed 40 years ago, so any important discoveries or developments on barbarous gold coins since 1982 would be missing from his books.
Errors are not a problem. We all make errors. The problem comes when those errors are not handled properly. If someone of my level reports a fake, I do not expect the big guys to believe me without checking but the deal breaker is when a house does not take down the fake after proper investigation. It would be interesting to know how many 'its fake' notes a big house gets on the average sale and the number of those that are incorrect. I don't read many auction catalogs (most dropped me for good reason when I retired to fixed income in 2003). I don't 'report' a coin unless I am 110% certain I am right. So far, I have had a good percentage of reports taken seriously. It has been a couple years since I reported this one. I do wonder what the consignor did with the coin. Was it sent to another house that didn't see its obvious problem either? What is the 'proper' thing for an auction to do with such coins? They can't very well confiscate the property but returning it will often result in it being sent to another dealer. It would be good if there were a secret dealer network on which they could post fakes they rejected and names of the consigners. Maybe there is. I would not know.
The answer: you send to Lanz who resale it: http://www.ebaystores.com/NUMISMATI...itleDesc=1&_sid=9632586&_trksid=p4634.c0.m310
Huh... the two fake Brundisium bronzes I notified CT'ers about earlier in an upcoming auction have still not been removed, even though I did notify Bertolami Fine Arts... maybe the auction house is still on holidays? https://auctions.bertolamifinearts.com/en/lot/120333/southern-apulia-brundisium-c-215-bc-/ https://auctions.bertolamifinearts.com/en/lot/120334/southern-apulia-brundisium-c-2nd-century-/
