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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 2486065, member: 19463&quot;]We spend a lot of time on CT discussing coins someone sends in for us to tell them whether it is real or not.&nbsp; In many cases we can say with certainty the coin is fake because it shows a characteristic that can not be disputed.&nbsp; We regret that the opposite is not true; we can never say with 100% certainty that a coin is genuine seeing only a photo and some coins will never be certain even if you have the coin in hand and have years of experience.&nbsp; There have been serious disputes between experts on a few coins (remember the first appearance of the Black Sea Hoard fakes almost 30 years ago). </p><p><br /></p><p>Another coin forum put a request on their fakes section that you not give opinions/advice over your level of expertise.&nbsp; Coin Talk does not do that and we will have conflicting opinions or &#039;nice coin&#039; posts on most questionable coins.&nbsp; Many of us will look at a coin and say &quot;doesn&#039;t look right&quot;&nbsp; but have trouble explaining exactly why we are suspicious.&nbsp; I am that way much of the time and am glad that I can just walk away from coins I don&#039;t like without having to explain why.&nbsp; For this post, I have selected a coin that might serve to illustrate questions.&nbsp; I&#039;m not saying whether I believe the coin is good or bad.&nbsp; I am sure that some of you will dismiss it as a fake and others will say you see no reason to suspect it.&nbsp; You are allowed to change your mind; I&#039;ll change mine if you give information I have missed either way.&nbsp; I checked a few but not many fake coin lists and did not find a match.&nbsp; That could mean the coin is good or it could mean I should have checked more. </p><p><br /></p><p>Philip I Billon Tetradrachm, Antioch, Syria. AD 248. ΑΥΤΟΚ Κ Μ ΙΟΥΛΙ ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟC CΕΒ, radiate and cuirassed bust left / ΔΗΜΑΡΧ ΕΞ ΟΥCΙΑC ΥΠΑΤΟ Γ, eagle standing right, with wings spread, holding wreath in beak. 11.17g, 27mm, 7h.&nbsp; The coin has considerable dark deposits on top of decent billon.&nbsp; The deposits do not come off easily but are distinctly different material and texture from the lighter color coin below. </p><p>[ATTACH=full]525321[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>It is always good to look closely at the coin which is hard to do with these tiny online photos so I&#039;ll post a section of the obverse that will cause some of you suspicious types to wonder why I showed THAT part.&nbsp; I&#039;ll tell you that it is just a part with face and letters showing and that you should not think I saw something there you missed but who knows if I missed something in it that you saw.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]525320[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>The last image is the AHA or not depending on how you interpret what you see.&nbsp; </p><p>[ATTACH=full]525319[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>This paste up shows file marks on the edge (bad sign).&nbsp; It also shows fissures that goes across the edge without being interrupted by a central ridge (good sign).&nbsp; The photos show glare in spots that are much more pronounced in the photo than on the coin.&nbsp; Lighting coins so there is no glare is hard.&nbsp; Each playing the game will have to decide if the scratches were made to conceal a casting seam (bad), to make the flan more even for striking (not bad), to make the coin fit in a hole for use in an ancient standard (good) or jewelry who knows when (depends on when).&nbsp; The edge tone seems to match the silver tones on the coin but the only deposits on the edge are in crevasses.&nbsp; Whether the edges or fields are retoned is not immediately obvious.&nbsp; Whether this tone is old as in 1 year, 100 years or 1700+ years is not necessarily proof that the coin underneath is from that same age bracket.&nbsp; All ancient coins have been cleaned; some retoned.&nbsp; Most fake ancient coins have been treated to make them look old.&nbsp; What does all this mean here?&nbsp; Nothing?&nbsp; Everything?</p><p><br /></p><p>It is very hard to say anything describing the coin that will not tip off how I feel about the coin or be deceptive dragging red herrings across your path.&nbsp; The point of this thread it to illustrate to beginners thing some of us look at when vetting our purchases.&nbsp; I&#039;m not telling where I obtained/who provided this coin to be photographed.&nbsp; You might be, rightly, influenced if I said it was sold by a major firm or by a street urchin in Antioch.&nbsp; Life is not that easy.</p><p><br /></p><p>Comments?&nbsp; Feel free to post images of Antioch tets that thrown light on the matter (for example what an Antioch edge should look like) but lets hold off on showing every coin in our collections that do not pertain to the questions brought up by the coin in question.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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