Byzantine Scyphates

Thanks for the heads up.

 

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I think labeling a coin that is supposed to have centration dimples a fake if they are not seen is a little harsh Doug. I have a couple provincials where the dimple is only obvious on one side, but under careful viewing you can see traces of them on the other. I have seen high end coins in auctions where the dimple should be but they were not there. It depends, (to me), on the amount of smoothing of the flan required and size of flan. The less smoothing required would lessen the dimple to begin with, while smaller flans it would be easier for the strike force to eliminate traces of it. No dimple would be a cause of concern, but I wouldn't throw a coin under the bus without looking more closely, looking at the edge for how much smoothing was done, etc.

Just my opinion. I do agree with your take on why they are present on the coins of course. Seems to be a lot of work for a minor coin, though the mint did profit well from striking subsidiary coins I suppose.

 

nice send it for certification

 

I have never understood how they were able to tolerate the ugly pit in the middle of the coin or, for that matter, the double striking required of the scyphates but they did. I have seen several coins with the pits filled (which I don't buy) and benefitted by getting a lower price on coins with pits that struck other people as defective. There are still people who do not know that the marks are normal. Certainly there are some less severe than others but I don't recall seeing unsmoothed coins missing them. I certainly don't consider a small pit to be a sign of a better coin.

 

No, of course not. In fact when I buy the Ptolemy large bronzes I always look for a large prominent pit since I think it adds character. A person has to have some seriously deep pockets to collect ancient coins without "character", lol.

My only point earlier was this centration dimples was done on some smaller bronzes too, and it seems those, due to their size, are more easily covered up by the strike and therefor not as visible. Either that or the smoothing process wasn't done as heavily on them. One of the coins where it doesn't show on the obverse was from an uncleaned lot of coins that I removed what I believe the original dirt myself. The mark is on the obverse, and after further inspection is locateable on the obverse, though not with a naked eye.