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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 2739625, member: 19463&quot;]Something to remember about ancients is there are thousands of coins that are the only survivor of their type.&nbsp; Almost any specialist in a narrow subject will have one or more.&nbsp; When there is only one, there is absolutely no reason to expect the coin will be EF or AG.&nbsp; Anything is possible.&nbsp; There is no protection from fakes by collecting only ugly coins and there is no reason to believe that a coin is too good to be true.&nbsp; Taking mint state fakes of popular and expensive coins and dressing them to look like they were too poor to be fakes is something of a cottage industry.&nbsp; A $5 fake is not likely to be confused with a $5000 original but we are regularly shown those same $5 fakes abused to look like a $100&nbsp; junker.&nbsp; That is still a good profit margin.&nbsp; One of the big name fakers of the 19th century would &#039;age&#039; his wares by putting them in the wheel hub of his carriage.&nbsp; Rural fakers in the Balkans are said to &#039;age&#039; coins by feeding them to a goat and recovering them after &#039;processing&#039;. This is an art form constantly being developed and upgraded.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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