A Denarius of Otho

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I gather that she's an administrator, not a numismatist. If so, she almost certainly doesn't know Otho from a hole in the wall, and isn't qualified to judge the merits of any authenticity questions anyone raises. Accordingly, she's probably just restating the general Heritage response to people who write in saying "somebody on the Internet told me the coin I bought is fake." I know it's difficult not to get annoyed, but if I were you I would do my best to ignore what she says, and not react to it at all until Mr. Beasley has had a chance to review both the coin and the expert opinion you've forwarded.

 

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Hmm her position used to be Senior Numismatist but I just checked and now it says that she is Vice President and Managing Director of Heritage’s New York Office.

Although in all fairness to her it does say in her bio that her passion is in US Coins not Ancients.

But I sent Mr. Beasley all the information as well and his bio on Heritage says he is an Ancients experts so hopefully he will pick up on the concerns that Dr. Mouna & Severus Alexander had.

 

This thread aged well...
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/can-you-spot-the-fake.383890/

 

OK, maybe she is a numismatist, but most people who specialize in U.S. coins also don't know Otho from a hole in the wall!

 

I have no experience with Heritage. But the response from Sarah seems to be both conventional and responsive. “We stand behind our coins but will take a second look…”. And she’s handling this on a weekend. I would at least give them a few business days to address the matter before growing pessimistic. I would be pretty bummed if I thought I had paid for a fake coin. (And I have before, for the record.) But I would not be put off by that response.

 

Oh yeah that part was good and responsive for sure.

The part that concerned me was the “you will get many opinions on the forums”.

I feel like she might think I just asked on the forums and a random person listed a concern and I don’t want them to just brush it off lightly and think that they know better.

It’s hard for me to explain but since I paid for it I’m just more worried than if someone else was sharing a fake so I can’t help but be worried. When it’s one’s own coin and money it’s more concerning.

 

Again, that's just their standard response. The determination isn't up to her. And I've already mentioned that Zach Beasley is a reasonable person.

 

Just heard back from Zach. Looks like Heritage is going to refund me!

 

Good to hear.

Hopefully, it gets destroyed and not enter the market somewhere else.

 

I posted the coin on Forvm fake reports with Jyrki's email assessment.

 

Yeah it’s scary to think it was able to fool both ANACS and Heritage. O_ o

I wonder if it’s even silver like it should be. In my experience most counterfeiters use plated base metals.

 

See, I told you that you shouldn't worry! But I completely understand why you did, and I'm glad it turned out well. And that it was resolved early enough that you don't even have to mail it back.

 

Yeah it’s hard not to worry when the outcome is still undetermined. I’m glad I didn’t have to stress out about it for too long though.

Im curious though: What does this mean for the person who sent the fake to Heritage?

I heard Heritage sometimes pays a percentage of estimated value prior to the auction and I’m wondering if Heritage is going to send the fake back to the original owner and ask for their own money back.

 

...and you didn't even have to pull a gun...

 

No I would never resort to violence!

Id rather have a fake coin and lose some money than hurt someone. O_O

Yeah a fake would be frustrating but I couldn’t live with myself if I hurt someone.

 

The original coin is either tooled or fake. I’d want to see it in hand to confirm which.

Barry Murphy

 

For what it’s worth, I see a lot of fake and problem coins in ANACS holders. I am referring to ancients only, not US or world.

Barry Murphy.

 

If it was consigned to Heritage, I'm sure they'll send it back to the consignor. If they loaned money to the consignor in advance of the auction against the proceeds, I assume they'll ask for its return, or simply deduct the amount of the advance payment from the proceeds of any other coins sold for that consignor.

 

Thanks for sharing your input!

Fortunately it’s all been taken care of and Heritage agreed to refund me 100% of the cost. They hadn’t shipped it to me yet so as Donna said at least I don’t have to ship it back to them they can just pull it from their inventory.

My original plan was to submit it to NGC as a coin to be graded raw as NGC grades ANACS Ancient coins are considered raw by NGC. Then if it came back in a body bag with “not genuine” or “questionable authenticity” I would’ve had some evidence.

Fortunately I didn’t have to do all that and Heritage exceeded my expectations by agreeing to a refund with no questions asked.

 

Thanks for explaining! I feel bad for the original owner since they probably thought it was real too.

It’s a relief to have this taken care of though.

I just couldn’t help but worry with that kind of money even though deep down I was pretty sure it would be resolved in the end.

If it was a $20 coin I probably would’ve just kept it and used it as an example to learn to identify counterfeits but several hundreds dollars is too much since it’s enough to buy a nice real coin.

The downside is now I have to find Otho again