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Message:: [QUOTE="Silverlock, post: 3242789, member: 98181"]One of the most common threads on this and seemingly every other ancient coin forum is: “is this real?” Experts can often answer that question by glancing at the coin. But how do they know? In a hobby where the opinions of experts literally determines what is real (valuable) vs fake (worthless), you’d hope there would be more to it than, “looks OK to me.” There is. A lot more to it. While an expert can process all the factors in his or her head, some folks (me) need help. So I compiled a list of factors to consider when rendering a judgement of whether a coin is real or not. It has helped me avoid buying countless fakes over the years. I hope it helps you. A few words about what follows. It isn’t intended to be a checklist. Going through the entire list for every coin I am considering buying would ruin the fun for me. I do tend to skim the list when evaluating a coin from an unknown seller, on eBay for instance, just make sure I haven’t missed anything obvious. Once a dealer is on my Naughty or Nice list, I no longer check each coin from that dealer. Most of the items on the list I learned from experts who generously shared their expertise. To them I am forever grateful. A handful of techniques are, I hesitate to say, my own, at least to the extent that I have not seen that particular technique mentioned anywhere else. Feel free to correct mistakes and add your own techniques. The comments are intentionally terse, so if something is unclear please let me know. Dealers<ul> <li>Check notorious fake seller lists (from Forvm Ancient Coins, Wayne Etsy, etc)</li> <li>Google for negative seller mentions on forums </li> <li>Ask about the dealer in *ancient* coin forums</li> <li>Check dealer inventory for fakes</li> <li>Scrutinize dealers from “forgery school” regions of Eastern Europe and the Middle East</li> <li>Scrutinize material outside the dealer’s primary area of expertise (artifacts from coin dealers, coins from artifact dealers, ancient coins from modern coin dealers, “estate finds”, “grandfather’s collection”, “consignments”, etc)</li> <li>Scrutinize consigned coins if the dealer has not personally examined them</li> <li>Good dealers offer (and honor!) a lifetime authenticity guarantee</li> </ul> eBay <ul> <li>Only consider amount of *ancient* coin feedback *as seller*</li> <li>See what other things feedback givers have bought and from whom (if only coins purchased are from this seller, wonder why)</li> <li>Look for evidence of feedback manipulation (many cheap items sold, a few buyers who are all repeat buyers, same buyer buys the expensive items, etc)</li> <li>Look for evidence of hacked/sold account with a lot of old positive feedback</li> <li>Check recent auctions for evidence of shill bidding</li> <li>Avoid private auctions</li> <li>Avoid “returns not accepted”</li> <li>Avoid “cannot be returned if removed from holder” </li> <li>Scrutinize sellers from or sourcing from “forgery school” regions of Eastern Europe and Middle East, and antiquity embargo countries</li> </ul> Common Sense<ul> <li>“Too good to be true”: it is</li> <li>Sellers exporting from countries with severe antiquities trafficking penalties</li> <li>Rarities at absurdly low prices</li> <li>Missing, incomplete, or inaccurate descriptions</li> <li>Multiple misattributed coins (potential bargain or lack of seller knowledge/care?) </li> <li>Common coins listed as “RARE!” (marketing ploy or lack of seller knowledge?)</li> <li>Perfectly centered designs on perfectly round flans are extremely rare outside of fakes</li> <li>Gut Feel - if you doubt it pre-purchase, you will doubt it post-purchase</li> </ul> Known Fakes<ul> <li>Check if a known fake (use Forvm’s fake reports, ForgeryNetwork, etc)</li> <li>Provenance - ask dealer (some dealers won’t share because then you’ll know what they paid; ask again after sale)</li> <li>Provenance - use acsearch, etc to see if you can find this coin from prior sales by reputable ancients dealers/auction houses</li> <li>Die matches - use acsearch, Wildwinds, etc to find; die matches are uncommon except for rare coins with few dies; a die match by itself neither condemns nor authenticates a coin </li> </ul> Defects<ul> <li>Precision Perfection - beware if most valuable feature(s) of the coin (inscription, portrait, reverse design) are in the best shape; fakes rarely include defects to important details</li> <li>Defect Location - fakes rarely have defects that draw the eye away from the valuable details</li> <li>Deposits - deposits in depressions should match those elsewhere on the coin  </li> <li>Corrosion - uneven corrosion is to be expected; perfectly even corrosion is a warning sign of artificial aging</li> <li>Concretions - copper chlorides: Atacamite and Paratacamite (bronze disease) are rarely introduced to fakes</li> <li>Concretions - copper oxides: Cuprite and Tenorite (brown or reddish crust) can be artificially induced</li> <li>Concretions - copper carbonates: Malachite and Azurite - hard dark green and blue crust suggests age; light green may be recent</li> <li>Concretions - copper acetates: verdigris is rarely introduced to fakes </li> </ul> Patina<ul> <li>Uneven patination is normal for a naturally patinated coin; perfectly even patination may be artificial</li> <li>Scrutinize rainbow toning</li> </ul> Weight<ul> <li>Weight outside the reasonable range for that issue is a bad sign (check similar coins for ranges, published papers about the coin)</li> <li>Weight loss inconsistent with amount of wear and degree of corrosion is a bad sign (guideline: slick, uncorroded US silver coins are 8% underweight)</li> </ul> Dimensions<ul> <li>Size should be consistent with other coins of same type, subject to centering of strike</li> <li>Thickness - normal size but over thick suggests base metal fake</li> <li>Uneven dies and flans and tilted strikes are the norm: thickness of coin will rarely be uniform around the entire perimeter</li> </ul> Wear<ul> <li>Check for consistency of wear between the obverse and the reverse</li> <li>Check for consistency of wear at different points of similar relief on the coin</li> <li>Coins do not wear evenly like a bar of soap, they wear preferentially on the high points while lower areas stay sharp</li> <li>Manipulations (tooling, smoothing) can be used to hide evidence of casting</li> <li>Worn coins should show dents, scratches from use</li> <li>Wear, dents, scratches, bumps should not all appear to have occurred at the same time</li> <li>Scratches - except for modern damage, the texture of dents and scratches should be consistent with the overall wear of coin (rounded edges if coin worn, etc)</li> <li>Test Cuts - edges should have wear consistent with rest of coin</li> <li>Test Cuts - no extra material inside cut</li> <li>Test Cuts - test cut cross-section consistent with being made by cutting tool</li> <li>Test Cuts - do not remove material so weight should be unaffected</li> </ul> Fabric<ul> <li>Clogging - metal clogging letters and small details can be a sign of casting</li> <li>Mushiness - real coins have sharp edges between devices and fields; should not gently flow together</li> <li>Flow Lines - should extend radially from high reliefs to fields or edges</li> <li>Pit Shape - circular or oval pits suggest casting bubbles; corrosion pits will be irregular rather than smoothly rounded</li> <li>Pit Edges/Bottom - from casting will be smooth; from corrosion will be rough</li> <li>Bumps/ridges - raised defects could be dents and scratches on a coin used to make the casting mold</li> <li>Appearance of modern minting with perfect surfaces is a warning sign</li> <li>Recrystallization - should be consistent with composition, usually high silver% coins; rarely/(never?) in debased AR, billon, AV, or AE</li> </ul> Rims<ul> <li>Wear of rims should be consistent with wear of rest of coin </li> <li>Excess material such as rim burrs or rim cuds are sign of modern minting</li> </ul> Edges<ul> <li>Presence of ridges or seams or lines or sprue on edge suggest casting</li> <li>Partial Collar - seen in ancient coin means electrotype</li> <li>Filing signs (scratches), retouching, polishing along edge suggests attempt to hide casting artifacts</li> <li>Electrotypes will have a weld line where the two halves were joined</li> <li>Round or oval holes or bubbles on edge suggest casting</li> <li>Level of wear and tone of edges should be consistent with that of the rest of the coin</li> </ul> Cracks<ul> <li>Presence of cracks can be a good sign</li> <li>Rough and sharp edges are good sign</li> <li>Smooth and blunt crack surfaces suggest casting</li> <li>Thin cracks are a good sign</li> <li>Cracks with extra metal inside bad sign</li> </ul> Style<ul> <li>Design - check thickness of features, shape of details, areas between details (use other coins of same type or from same period and location)</li> <li>Lettering - check font style, forming of serifs, how letters were cut, type of tool used to engrave letters into die (use other coins of same type or from same period and location)</li> </ul> Ask<ul> <li>Ask dealers, coin forums, etc. You can’t authenticate from photos, but obvious fakes stand out</li> <li>Ask Before Purchase: if even one person doubts the authenticity, you’ll never get that suspicion out of your mind no matter how many say it is real</li> </ul> Non-Destructive Tests<ul> <li>Lead swabs - Alexandria AEs, Republic bronzes, overweight Roman orichalcum sestertius, etc should test positive for lead; early Imperial bronzes, most ARs, etc should not</li> <li>Silver slide - large silvers should be slowed</li> <li>Ring Test - may work if coin isn’t corroded or recrystallized</li> <li>Specific Gravity - compare to composition range from research papers</li> <li>XRF - test metal composition at jewelry store, pawn shop, etc. and compare to known good coins, research paper results (may charge since uses consumables)</li> </ul> Authentication<ul> <li>Harlan Berk sticker service - free</li> <li>NGC - $25+</li> <li>David Sear - $45+</li> </ul>[/QUOTE]

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