I was scrolling through eBay, and I found this denarius of Augustus, looks real for my untrained eyes, what do you think? Thomas,
I'm not an expert, but I'm not thinking so... I'm curious to hear others' perspectives. It's too circular of a flan (pressed?), the font/lettering isn't convincing (to Roman standards), and the leading/straightness of the letters are off (ie, AT Q TRAN), the top of the capital is worn or lacks detail while the letters around it are not worn, and a few other things (to my untrained eye). What area is it being sold from?
The letters do not look right-- not in shape, style, or how they were formed. Plus, it's a rare type. Ebay, rare type, off lettering... fake.
It has, what I call, Disneyland Patina. It’s that fakey grey patina that looks like it was airbrushed on.
I wouldnt touch it. RIC 358 type is quite rare and comes with AVGV in crippus on reverse which is missing here. Lettering looks strange too, especially the 'c'. I dont know this variant, but im not a real expert ofcourse. Still, its ebay... be carefull!
I usually don't offer opinions on such matters, but the coins seems too perfectly round to me, and those letter shapes are all over the place. Comparing it to a couple of genuine examples listed here doesn't create what's called a good impression either. Also, coins of this rarity usually don't surface on ebay and aren't sold by random no name sellers. I'd bet a very fine Republican denarius that it is as fake as fake can be. My tip: avoid like the plague!
Font is all wrong, and the fields are too flat which makes the piece appear to have been pressed, not hammer-struck.
The last one was sold by CNG last summer for over 2000$. So at 1.25$ there are 3 possibilities : 1) the seller knows nothing and it’s the deal of your life. 2) the seller is very generous and feels like making somebody happy. 3) this is a forgery and even at this price it is too expensive for a piece of crap.
