Dr. Weiss makes a plea bargain. A prominent coin collector thought he had some valuable, ancient pieces with a problem: They shouldn't have been taken out of Italy. The coins turned out to be fakes, but they led to very real trouble for the collector, noted Rhode Island hand surgeon Dr. Arnold-Peter Weiss. He pleaded guilty Tuesday to criminal charges in a case that set the numismatic world abuzz. ... Weiss was arrested in January amid a coin auction at the posh Waldorf-Astoria hotel, planning to sell what was listed as a silver tetradrachm, a Greek coin from the fourth century B.C., according to a criminal complaint. Weiss expected it to net about $350,000, according to the complaint. Under his plea deal, Weiss must forfeit his interest in 23 coins seized from him when he was arrested, perform 70 hours of community service and write an article about the problem of trading in unprovenanced coins — those of uncertain origin — and "the continuing threat of this practice to the archaeological record." He also must try to get it published in the numismatic society's magazine or a similar venue. Wall Street Journal article: http://online.wsj.com/article/AP910efeb3395c4e069f8387715326edd6.html Previous thread on this subject: http://www.cointalk.com/t198480
Not meaning to go off topic, but at what point were these coins determined to be fakes? I had heard that only one of the coins were thought to be certainly a fake. guy
Hey Guy, This thread has an ongoing debate on this if you wanna read it. The debate on this latest development started on July 4th. http://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=77199.75
One thing to take away from this was the expert had to use electron microscope to determine the fake, which confirms that we have highly talented counterfeit operations going on(ties to mafia?) spitting out ancient fakes.
