In February I started a thread on how some eBay fakes are detected: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/how-we-detect-fakes.311907/ I mentioned "Another way we catch fakes is my noticing two identical coins. That is, identical except possibly for recently applied surfaces. Ancient coins were struck by hand. No two have exactly the same strike, flan flaws, and centering. If you can find two coins that are identical in enough ways, they are likely both cast fakes" Here is an example of what I meant. However this time they were not discovered on-line, rather in hand when inspecting a large group of low-value coins assembled over twenty years ago. I like the "hand-of-God" type so I pulled these two (and there were other clones in the group too.) Individually these two look pretty good. However, in this image you can look at them together and see flan cracks or dings at 3:00 and 11:00 and 5:30 on the obverse of each, 4:00 on the reverse of each. Everything matches up too except the applied "earthen" cover (and even that is pretty similar on both). The coins show the typical mushy weakness of casts. But being clones is conclusive. Fakes! Do you have some black-cabinet fakes to show us?
This process is how I discovered that I had bought a fake. This coin was the subject of a long thread here: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/i-think-i-bought-a-fake-help-please.311634/
If eBay disappeared tomorrow I think 3/4 of forgers would go out of business. eBay is the single biggest reason for the proliferation of fakes. Hence why I avoid it like the plague. I don't want to take the risk of giving a forger a dime if I can help it.
Here's my Galerius cast fake of a modern reproduction. This coin came in a lot, the other coins were OK and worth the price so I just kept this one. It has to live in a box with my cheapo modern coins instead of with my other ancients. (partical photo credit to @Gavin Richardson and @maridvnvm here). Here my coin from a thread yesterday (bottom) with the coin it was likely cast from (top)...@TIF gets some credit here. I'm not sure what to do with this coin. I can send the coin back, but suspect it will end up on the market again. Maybe I should keep it? It was only 20 bucks.
I admire your resilience @Alegandron ! A letter like that could discourage a less determined collector to throw in the towel and give up the hobby. I submitted some coins to NGC a few years ago and they came back unslabbed with a letter saying their authenticity were in doubt. The experience really discouraged me and caused me to lose interest in ancients for a while.
Let's remember that eBay is only as good as the skills and knowledge you bring to the table. Some of my favourite coins are ex eBay. Newbies should stay away from it and stick to reputable dealers.
I’ve bought nice Byzantine and Chinese off of eBay, so some stuff is reputable, but it helps to know the seller is recommended by more than one person, or have a lifetime guarantee on what you bought.
