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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Al Kowsky, post: 3176217, member: 97383&quot;]After returning to Rochester in 1975 I couldn&#039;t wait to see my first coin show at the Rochester Museum &amp; Science Center, sponsored by the RNA. I wanted to add a Byzantine coin to my collection , &amp; after browsing for about an hour I spotted a gold histamenon nomisma from the reign of Romanus III, Argyrus, AD 1028-1034. The coin was priced at $100.00, a lot of money back then, but I had to have it. The composition of the enthroned Christ on the obverse &amp; the Virgin Mary crowning the emperor on the reverse intrigued me; see the photos below. When I got home I weighed the coin on my triple beam scale &amp; it was 3.90 gm, when it should have weighed about 4.40 gm <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie9" alt=":eek:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />. My heart sank. Could it have been clipped that much? After showing the coin to 8 collectors, 4 thought it was good but clipped, 2 wouldn&#039;t venture an opinion, &amp; the other 2 thought it was a fake. I didn&#039;t get a receipt for the coin &amp; was too embarrassed to return it anyway. Two years later I showed it to a knowledgeable dealer at a coin show in Syracuse, NY &amp; he felt confident it was a die struck fake from the &quot;Beirut School&quot; in the Mideast. Lesson learned <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie81" alt=":shifty:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />. Below the photos of my fake are photos of a genuine gold coin of that type, courtesy of CNG, 1-13-2016, 24 mm, 4.33 gm.[ATTACH=full]817391[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]817392[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]817393[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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