ID help real or fake?

This is all us amateurs need to see......move on......

 

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Always interesting when we get some experts disagreeing about authenticity. (I do consider Insider an expert, and have valued his opinions here.) My initial impression was: I would not carry this in an AMCC auction, it is too dubious - the lettering is particularly concerning. And that is still my opinion! A coin to stay away from, I'd say.

Sestertii are tricky. Here's my cast 3 sisters Caligula sestertius; I've seen a couple matches sold for big bucks by major auction houses.

(Side note: under the microscope it shows the spiderweb "crystallization" [or whatever it is] that @Insider talked about in this thread as a sign of being cast.)

 

So against @Insider and @curtislclay opinion?... I have trouble with that. Perhaps my issue - not yours

 

Note that Insider thinks it's a fake (it can be confusing because he doesn't use the quote function properly), and he has worked as a professional authenticator. Curtis could well be right, and of course his opinion carries a lot of weight. On the other hand, he doesn't have the coin in hand so he's just registering his bet. I'm not affirming that it's a fake; all I'm saying is that I'm not sufficiently comfortable with the coin that I would carry it, or have it in my collection. If there's any doubt, it's out! (And I do have 35 years of experience myself, so hopefully my impression is worth something too. )

 

I don't pretend to be an expert but I've been a serious numismatist / collector for over 50 years, & this sestertius makes me nervous . The porosity & the indistinct reverse are troubling. Knowing the weight of the coin would be helpful along with a few good photos of the edge . As Insider suggests, fake dies could very well have been made from one of the 3 genuine examples posted.

 

Sometimes it's all you can do.

 

https://www.ebay.de/itm/LANZ-ROME-SESTERTIUS-DOMITIAN-AUGUSTUS-OFFICER-SOLDIER-ALTAR-RARE-DDK786-/234044532939?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=0VXcQITlg78lAoh0DPzFjMxbaQk%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc


Ladies and gentlemen! Thank you for a very interesting discussion. I really appreciate your feedback. And I put here either my own coins, or interesting coins from the auctions you know. At the same time, I want it to be interesting for me and for you too.

 

Seller: Lanz.
Hammer price: 88 EUR.

 

18.74g. Definitely on the low end.

 

I guess that tells us all we really need to know.

 

Wahoo! We were right. I must admit I saw one individuals response having no doubts about a coin that I had several doubts about and it had me questioning my amateur understanding of fakes and the basic ways I know of detecting them.
Now that we know it was Lanz, I gotta admit, I'm kinda pleased with myself

 

I really don't understand. The weight was mentioned in the listing, as was the diameter. The seller has been discussed on this board at length. Why wasn't any of this information included in the original post?

For example, I may be wrong, but I kind of doubt that it is made of lead, given the weight and diameter.

 

Because most of the questions the OP posts are ones to which he already knows the answer. He likes to play games -- or, put more charitably, test the membership -- by withholding information from his initial posts. This isn't the first time by any means.

 

Thank you Donna. I hadn't noticed that, but I only read the Ancients forum so I might have missed it. In any case, I think I should take a break from these threads.

 

I also knew it was a Lanz offering as soon as I saw it (after all what kind of Flavian specialist would I be if I wasn't keeping track of what's currently in trade).

IMHO, the coin is smoothed, but genuine ...no matter who the seller is!

 

the extremely low end for a Domitian sestertius , 35 mm and only 13.6 grams

 

PURCHASED 1O COIN. immediately put a hold on the credit card used for the purchase. Is this coin a fake? I will take coin to my local coin shop to weight.

 

My guess is real but smoothed + repatinated

 

You lose so much not having the coin in hand. For example, IF 11 o’clock on the obverse is 5 o’clock on the reverse then it’s a tilted strike. Generally that might weigh in the authentic column. Other things being equal fakers tend to prefer evenly struck examples as source coins. This coin is common enough a faker needn’t use an imperfect example. What the reverse rotation angle is can’t be determined from the photos. In hand would answer that.

As far as tooling/smoothing goes, again, hard to be certain from a photo. The fabric looks uneven: rough in some areas and smooth in others? Some letters look perhaps recut? A loupe would answer those questions.

One thing I’m reasonably confident of is IF the coin is authentic then the coin has been stripped and repatinated. The patina is too uniform for a corroded coin. Corrosion by-products of copper-rich coins tend to be of the malachite (green), azurite (blue), cuprite (orange/red) range of colors. There aren’t any copper minerals I’m aware of that are battleship gray. Unless that’s a false color photo. Again, answerable in hand.

Doctored real coin or fake are the same thing in my book: Avoid.

 

I posted:Lead fake because the color of the OP's image was "lead." I have not changed my opinion - C/F and not smoothed. HOWEVER, when a coin is in an auction and is seen by dozens of professionals without being pulled then my opinion is only that - an opinion from an image which you all may consider to be WRONG!.