I bought a Roman coin for $6.50 in July. I brought it to a dealer, he took out his jewelers loupe, and said, it has small holes on it do to "gas exposure." His wife said ancients are usually thick, mine is a bit thin, (a bit smaller than the width of a dime). The coin is only a tiny bit smaller than a dime, meaning it could stay in a dime folder. I have found a match on the internet, but the lettering is different. Here are the pictures: Front: https://www.flickr.com/photos/131737095@N02/21296676594/in/dateposted-public/ Back: https://www.flickr.com/photos/131737095@N02/21731371760/in/dateposted-public/ Here's the COA that supposedly certifies it's authentic. Front: https://www.flickr.com/photos/131737095@N02/21732550829/in/dateposted-public/ Back: https://www.flickr.com/photos/131737095@N02/21919420815/in/dateposted-public/ Thanks for taking your time and looking at this.
That COA states that the coin is genuine, but does not carry the name of the person or company making the statement. [Turn on sarcasm font] Yeah, I'd trust that. [Turn off sarcasm font]
I have no doubt it's genuine...and it has a 'fallen Horseman' reverse and I'm guessing the obverse is of Constantine...although I can't tell if it's Father or son. It's one of those too difficult to attribute types that sellers simply list as of a certain era i.e Constantinian---hence the relatively low price. But you can usually find better grade types for a similar price almost anywhere since they are basically 'common' LRB's (Late Roman Bronzes). I'm sure some of the others will help out a bit more. And you can compare them to others by goggling to wildwinds.http://wildwinds.com/coins/ric/i.html
It's authentic, just worn. It's a less common Falling Horseman type of Julian II as caesar, from the Siscia mint. As Rick points out, those certificates are not to be trusted, but in your case, the coin is fine.
Because the COA was mass produced, it raised my suspicion whether it was real or not. Glad to hear it was real!
The only certificates of authenticity that are worth anything come from David Sear. NGC also has a professional team, but they do not guarantee the authenticity of the coins they slab.
Rest assured it is...and JA is very heavily into the 'fallen horseman' series, so you have no worries there---the few I have are of about similar grade---but not of the scarcer Julian , who was a nephew of Constantine (if I recall correctly LOL). The dealer you showed it to did not clarify the genuineness or the ruler???
As an example, here is a Julian II FH type for which I paid $10 shipped. Admittedly, it's a different mint, but at that time Siscia was pouring out coins by the ton, so they should be fairly cheap JULIAN II AE3 OBVERSE: FL C L IVLIANVS NOB C, bare-headed, draped & cuirassed bust right, M behind bust REVERSE: FEL TEMP REPARATIO, soldier spearing fallen horseman wearing pointed cap & reaching backwards, MSLG in ex. Struck at Lyons 360-3AD 2.3g, 16mm RIC 200
In all honesty this is much better than most coins for $6.50 (or double that) sold with a mass produced COA to the segment of the market that would buy from a dealer that does business in this way. Being a Julian is an upgrade and having a readable mintmark is also a bonus. I strongly suspect that most other customers who bought from this batch did not do as well as you did. Mine was a bit less but part of a group purchase several years ago so it is not a fair comparison. If you do not know Julian II, Google him and learn a bit of history to go with your coin.
Julian's Falling Horsemen are generally rougher than those of Constantius II and Gallus. Here's a plate of my coins. The Julian II is at the bottom. I haven't studied these coins as extensively as Doug and others, so nobody should go calling me an expert on them.
Are we coin-brothers? My first ancient was a Julian II "Falling horseman" from the Siscia mint as well. After collecting for over a year I still haven't taken a better picture of it than the crappy cell phone picture I took when I first got it home and posted online. Mine was actually labeled as Julian II but had no information as to the reverse design. I wish I had only spent $6.50 on this one. I spent all of $45 because at the time that seemed like a great deal for a 1650 year old coin.
That's the same impression many beginner collectors of Ancient coins have. Don't kick yourself too hard.
There are coins like this that are worth $45. Julian's falling horsemen came at a time when 99% were poorly struck and missing lot of detail. They were made from various mint cities by workers that varied a lot in ability. Find a nice big round smooth unworn well executed one and $45 would seem cheap. Take the poor ones and $6.50 is too much. The name of the game in collecting is learning to separate the extremes and figure where on the scale the in-between ones fall. Sellers are always willing to ask too much and we need to decide whether we are anious enough to pay or wait for the next great find. I don't have what I would call a $45 example to show but they exist (I'm told). Not bad: http://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=8583 Of course, most people who want a nicer Julian prefer a bull from his later period as Augustus. Mine is mid grade. Nice ones are pretty.
I don't worry much about it. Everyone makes mistakes mistakes as a beginner collector and if I hadn't made the "mistake" of overpaying on that coin I might never have found this wonderful hobby.