Twenty years ago the ancient coin community was rocked by a huge 'hoard' of FAKE diobols (small Greek silvers) that became known as the Black Sea Hoard. They were sold as a great new find of what had been a relatively scarce coin and a major fight broke out among experts as to whether they were good or bad. When the dust settled, all agreed they were modern fakes and some were even sold in museum shops (possibly their intended purpose in the first place). Really major dealers issued refunds and apologies. Lately I have seen more than one being offered by dealers that should know better but after 20 years it is quite possible that some are employing staff that were not around for the first round. There were two types of which I only have the Messembria to show here. My example cost me $5 but $250 is pretty standard for coins offered as real. The obverse shows a Greek helmet and that is how the fakes are best recognized. When you look at the helmet, the fake dies (there are several) tend to look more like a face than a lifeless piece of armor. The nose is a nose guard flat and should not look like a nose. The eyes are holes in the helmet and should not have ridges that look like eyes. The cheeks should not have modelling but should look like protection rather than live flesh. The safest way once was to compare a prospective purchase to photos of the known dies before buying but there have been fakes of fakes added to the mix over the years and I am not aware of a comprehensive list showing all the dies. This have a lot but I doubt I will be buying more of the type than the two I already have (that I believe to be OK but wouldn't bet on them either). The example posted here is typical and very, very fake. In the almost 20 years I've had it and kept it in poor conditions in a drawer, it have become much older looking. If you buy one like it, I suggest shopping in a museum store and paying a 'fake' price. http://www.forumancientcoins.com/fakes/thumbnails.php?album=10&page=15
I've been wanting to add some more modern fakes to my collection, but since I can find authenic ones for the same price I usualy pace, I have 3 of the readers digest fakes, but found em all in the the 25 cent bin. I think the black sea hoard fakes would be interesting to find in a junk bin.
I'll wish you well but the Black Sea coins seem to be too easy to pass off as genuine while the Readers Digest copies are nowhere close to deceptive and exist in 1000 times the quantity. To me, 25 cents is plenty for them while $5 is cheap for a coin that caused the hubbub in the hobby that the Black Sea coins did.
Thank's for the post. I AM one of that younger generation who wasn't around at the time. How did the IAPN eventually come to the conclusion that these were fake? I assume its because of the numerous die matches within the "hoard" and the lack of any links to others. Apart from stylistic difference, is there anything else suspicious?
As I recall the overall hoard was very little light but not enough to be a certain diagnostic. My fake is 1.1g and my more believably real one is 1.2g.
You ask too much from memory but there were absolutely no links to non hoard coins and all hoard coins were linked to each other with no missing dies, I believe. I recall there being a report of someone buying a coin sold as fake in Bulgaria that was a link and some micro photos suggesting some detail was cut with a rotary tool but I do not have that reference to quote. The killer was when a die turned up. There is a list of the articles from 1989 to 1992 in Sayles' Classical Deception but I no longer have my old magazines from that day so I can't research it properly.
