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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Ken Dorney, post: 3701930, member: 76086&quot;]Sure.&nbsp; To start, the style itself is completely off.&nbsp; I&#039;m going to ignore the reverse for this comparison.&nbsp; Here is a genuine example on the left and the fake on the right:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]992084[/ATTACH] </p><p>Most of the portraits of Otho from Antioch are all very similar in style.&nbsp; When looking at them side by side the difference is very obvious.&nbsp; The nose is wrong, the chin and cheeks are strangely round, the laurels not consistent with known types, the wreath tie was done a bit heavy handed and should be more refined. But have a closer look at the inscription.&nbsp; I took the most obvious portion for my example: </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]992085[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>The first part of the inscription, IMP M OTHO started out half convincing, but by the second half it got progressively worse.&nbsp; Note how the letters change, from somewhat decent to much heavier and thicker due to a general lack of skill.&nbsp; Especially note the letters ..G TR..They are especially heavy and and end abruptly and sharply. This is a textbook representation of the use of an electric rotary tool to carve the letters.</p><p><br /></p><p>I do give them some credit for producing a somewhat convincing patina, but that is just simple chemistry.&nbsp; Nevertheless, one can sometimes see hints of artificial patina:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]992086[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>In this image you can see some broken patina on the edge where it has abraded away.&nbsp; While this is also possible with a genuine coin, in this case it just lends evidence of a forgery.&nbsp; New patina often does not adhere to the surface of the coin very well, and in many cases if in hand one can break it off with a fingernail.</p><p><br /></p><p>At first I thought this might be struck or pressed, but the nifty zoom feature on Ebay lets us see some details not discernible in the smaller photo.&nbsp; In the above photo there seems to be a lot of casting pearls.</p><p><br /></p><p>Some may think I am giving up some secrets and helping the forgers, but any good forger already knows this and would not produce such a bad fake.&nbsp; A fake of this type is more often seen offered to dealers salted into a larger group of genuine coins.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>One of the most powerful tools one can use when they are suspicious is simple comparison.&nbsp; Check out a sellers other items, and also closed sales.&nbsp; Do they all have similarities?&nbsp; Do they all look a bit odd or off?&nbsp; If so you generally with have the answer.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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