Hi Everyone, I have been collecting coins for a while and recently delved into ancient coins . I have purchased a couple of Athena Attica coins with weights varying between 16 and 17grams . I will post the pics as they might give and indication of what I’m looking at .
They look look a bit like Lebanese or Bulgarian fakes , but I’m a complete novice. Hoping for some opinions . Kind regards
The one in the middle is a well known Bulgarian fake. https://www.etsy.com/de/listing/678...e-solide-tetradrachme?ref=shop_home_active_65 The one on the right side looks very convincing especially the rim and is most likely authentic and the one one the left side I can not tell based on pictures
The better a coin is preserved the easier is the authentication. Your coin left is not so well preserved and the pictures are not that sharp so it is very difficult to say. And I honestly can not tell Your coin left is either authentic or a cast fake. Cast fakes do generally have a casting seam and sprue, or file marks if they were removed. So you can look under magnification for seam and sprue or file markes at the edge (rim). The weight, metal will shrink in casting mould when cooling down which will result in lower weight and size than on the original mother except mould was modified. The weight is ok for your coin if we consider some weight loss due to wear. The details are softer on cast fakes and they have often circular holes from air bubbles or pearls or casting defects if mould was not completely covered with metal. You can check by yourself under magnification. Maybe you want to show the coin to a dealer sepcialized in ancient coins at coin fair etc. or if you have such a dealer nearby visiting him. If you send coins for authentication (Sear, HJB, NGC etc) it will cost money and the money should be in realtion to the value of the coin. Not sure if it makes sense in your case, because only the authenticity of the coin left is not clear the one in middle is without a doubt fake and the one on the right side as far as it is possible to tell from pictures authentic. If the coin on the right side would be really fake it would be the best fake I have seen in my whole life and I have seen really many and many expensive and dangerous ones. To the one on the right side the dies are legit, the fabric is correct (struck), the planchet is correct, the weight is correct, I can not see anything which is not as it would be expected on an authentic coin from this type and not any problem or anything that would speak for a fake, fakes have problems (depending what kind of fake it is) and this coin does not seem to have any of this problems (as far as it is possible to tell based on pictures).
Thank you for your input . I looked under magnification (x10 and x50) seem looks okay and there are no filling marks . Can’t see any bubbles on both sides at all , although the coin is poorly preserved . I will send the coins to NGC for certification , along with some other coins . Wow I did not think counterfeiting was such a problem when I started , but I have been reading literature on fake ancient coins and it has become a great lesson and I have learnt a lot . And the rest of my collection seems to be okay after many , many hours of examination . I will keep collecting , but only from reputable dealers . Thanks once again for everyone’s input. Kind regards
