GypsyTears, I'm sorry to have to say this... First, the face of Herakles, and the head and upper body of Zeus immediately strike me as not looking right. They're the wrong style. And in the left field of the reverse, that faint mintmark, if that's what it's supposed to be, is not correct for that style of tetradrachm obverse and reverse. And I have never seen a countermark like that on an Alexander, ever. But the countermark is of less concern than the incorrect style and mintmark. Second, I recognized, by the coin holder in the picture, that the seller is a notorious career eBay fake seller by the name of - artifactsuk. IMO your coin is an intentional fake. In my mind there is no doubt. artifactsuk is a career fake seller well known to many collectors. And he has fooled many. When I just now looked through his eBay inventory I didn't see a single coin that did not look suspicious. He disgusts and angers me. He is on the 2 most important fake seller Blacklists: I hope you can see the first Yahoo group list and pdf without being a member. If not you should join: CoinForgeryDiscussionList Blacklist and here is a pdf of the same list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CoinForgeryDiscussionList/files/cfdl%20blacklist2j.pdf And he is also on the Notorious Fake Sellers List on Forvm Ancient Coins. Sellers are not put on these lists on a whim. If they are listed there is no doubt about their intentions to sell fakes and rip people off. Also this alone is a red flag from the auction: "Return policy The seller will not accept returns for this item." Although he does say in the description: "Fully guaranteed authentic ancient coin. If an authority ever desputes its authenticity I will refund you in full". What kind of authority will he accept? None I bet. Although I have been specifically collecting Alexander coins for about 15 years, I am not a regular poster on this forum. Since you do not know me I could be talking out of my hat for all you know. So I would urge you to post your coin on the 2 fake forums here, asking if your coin is a fake - Fake Ancient Coin Reports and Discussion (After you join the forum make sure you put your post under the Fake Ancient Coin Reports and Discussion forum section.) and here CoinForgeryDiscussionList Many knowledgable ancient collectors and sellers post at those forums. If you write the title of your post as "Is this coin fake?", you should get responses. And if you find to your satisfaction that it is fake, since he doesn't accept returns, put in a complaint with PayPal as soon as possible. You should be able to get your money back. And then don't forget to neg the seller to warn others to be aware. And I recommend that everyone revisit my CoinTalk post here: Research Spanish Colonial and Ancient coin eBay sellers first Also I urge everyone to look through the gallery of fakes on the Fake Ancient Coin Reports to educate yourself on what fake ancient coins can look like and how good some of them are. Just choose whatever category you collect, Greek, Roman, Hellenistic, and look at the fakes. I think that some of them will surprise you.
Thank you, tenacious. I tend to avoid the coinage of Alexander - because of its vastness, I find it to be somewhat pedestrian and repetitive. I was at first willing to dismiss the odd style as a product of a mint that I was unfamiliar with, but when I checked Price for the countermark, there weren't even any listed in Aramaic. I couldn't make out the control mark, so I couldn't check the style. Since its from a known fake seller, that makes it a HUGE problem coin. Strangely, there's nothing listed in the Fake Galleries that is close to this style. Certainly post this at Forvm to see what they say, but I think I know what the answer will be. Don't be terribly bothered by it, so long as you get your money back. If I had seen this coin on its own, I probably would have taken it for genuine. This should be a good lesson to research BOTH the coin and the seller before buying! (And if you're new, best not to buy widely counterfeited types)
Excellent information! Even from his feedback none of the buyers were suspicious of the authenticity of their purchases. This is one good example why it's important to do research first. I've been tempted to buy (impulsively) several times from this seller but was always outbid. Hope things work out for the best for the OP. Good luck.
Yeah, the problem with fraudulent coin dealers is that those who would be able to recognize a fraud never bid on the items in the first place, so they can never leave negative feedback. Because of this, Ebay feedback is virtually useless when it comes to things like this.
This is one of the reasons I posted the coin was to get some feedback from some members who know alot more on this coin than I. This coin looked great to me and was an impulse buy. I just wonder how many other of my Roman Imperial coins could be in question???? Thank you for your posts and information.
As mentioned above, there are good sites you can ask about the coins. We are lucky enough to have some good people here on this site. That said (and here comes the heresy):bigeyes:: I would NEVER buy any coin above a few hundred dollars that wasn't certified by a respected expert. I'm not that good. Some people claim to be. Fewer people actually are. There are, however, some great reputable sites for Ancients such as forumancientcoins or Harlan J Berks hjb-ancientcoins. Here is the ultimate heresy: If you still have questions about your more expensive coins, have NGC-Ancients' David Vagi and Co. look at them. Sure it costs money. There is no guarantee. And the coins will be forever entombed in plastic. For certain coins, however, I like authentication. Vagi is very thoughtful and meticulous. He has been working with antiquities professionally for two decades. He frequently lectures at the ANA summer seminars. And he wrote a great book on Imperial Roman coins and Imperial Roman history. I would rather spend $530 on a certified coin than "save" $30 and lose $500 on a crapshoot for a raw coin on E-bay. Then, again, I'm not a coin expert. I'm not that smart. guy
I'm with Guy on this one except to add the point that the seller is on the fake sellers lists and IF he happened to have a genuine coin, I would not send money to him just out of principle. I have been collecting ancient coins since the middle 1960's and have learned a thing or two about coins. Still, I would not pay $500 for a coin unless I had a positive feeling of trust about the knowledge, professionalism and honesty of the seller. I would not buy such a coin from myself (I try to be honest but fall short on knowledge of Alexanders and I'm not a professional dealer who has handled thousands of these things). When you buy on a whim like this you are playing Russian Roulette. When you buy from a name on the fake sellers lists, you are loading all of the chambers.
Please listen to Doug's advice. He has been thinking about Ancients longer than most collectors have been alive. Many of his writings on Ancient coins have been more concise and more clearly written than any those from so called "professionals." Gypsy, I know very little about Ancient coins in contrast to Doug and others on this forum. That said, I'm pretty sure a coin of your quality, if real, would normally command a larger price tag. Let's follow the E-bay auction of a similar coin. This has been authenticated by NGC-Ancients. I'll be surprised if it goes for under $250 (At the time of this post, it is going for $22.50): http://cgi.ebay.com/Macedon-336-323...tem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ead76428a guy :smile
Tenacious posted links to two fake sellers lists in his first post to this thread. I'd call his post a textbook example of trying to help but you still have to do your part and read it. It is common for people taken by fake sellers to mistrust the messanger and prefer the council of the seller telling them what a good deal they got on such a wonderful coin. If you have not already begun dispute proceedings through Paypal and written the seller requesting correction of his 'error' you are missing the point. Numismatic education can be expensive - in this case $255.
