My Latest Coin

Hi everyone,

Just thought I'd share my latest acquisition.

At the moment, I'm on bit of a late antique streak....
Valentinian I (364-375)
AV Solidus
Mint: Antioch
RIX IX 202b

 

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Very nice!

 

Lucky, can never go wrong with gold.


Valentinian I (364 - 375 A.D.)
Æ3
ON VALENTINIANVS PF AVG diademed, draped & cuirassed bust right.
R: RESTITVTOR REIP, Valentinian standing front, head right, holding Victory and standard with X on banner. Mintmark SMKB
20mm
3.38g
Cyzicus
RIC 10a, B

 

..very nice RC...you're goin' the way of da Panzerman eh?!

 

@ominus1 based on what I have seen I hope so....

 

Unfortunately the Valentinian solidus is a modern forgery.

Barry Murphy.

 

Hi @Barry Murphy ,

What makes it a modern forgery. I purchased from an extremely reputable dealer?

 

@Barry Murphy this is the image from wildwinds, I don't see any incriminating discrepancies. Is it the texture of the coin or something else that is a give away?
Please let me know

 

Fabric is wrong, luster is wrong for a high grade coin, line above the legend on the right is wrong, weight is a full gram light.

Barry Murphy.

 

Hi @Barry Murphy my lighting is not the best, and the colour of the coin is comparable to all other solidi that I own. Also, I did not list the weight of the coin so I'm not quite sure how you deduced that, and if you are referring to the line above ANTS (if that is the one you are referring to) it looks fairly similar to the wildwinds photo.

 

Oh man, that's not gonna confuse me Roman collector and Romancollector
Nice gold btw I have none.
But I do have plenty of bronze!

Valentinian I
364-375 CE Æ Siscia, 367-375. Pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust r. R/ Emperor advancing r., head l., dragging bound captive and holding labarum; M-star/F//BSISCS. RIC IX 14a.xvi.

 

The Wildwinds coin came from a UBS sale in 2006. It was the host coin for this fake and a number of others that have appeared since.

The fakes have a small pellet in the field below the L in VAlentinian that’s not in the original.

These are ex heritage and ex nomos.

 

@Barry Murphy I should add that the coin is 4.4 grams (the average seems to be 4.5 grams so it is only 0.1 grams lighter). I just weighed it right now.

Could the pellet just be the result of a die match? In general, I have seen many ancients with the same die, all from reputable dealers/auction houses.

I am somewhat of a novice.

Thanks for the input.

 

..oh, i'm sorry @Romancollector (don't feel bad, it happens to the best, me included) ..i wouldn't dispute the word of Barry Murphy on any coin for his word is gold here (no pun intended) we are fortunate to have his input here....hopefully you can return and get a refund...and yeah @Ryro, i am guilty of that very thing too ...have to watch that ( Roman Collector is RC and Romancollector shall be Rc henceforth and forever ...till further notice )..my apologies to @Roman Collector and @Romancollector respectively...

 

I'm sorry to hear about this. It would have fooled me as well. Barry is very experienced in such matters so if he thinks it's a fake you can probably trust him on it.

It appears to be a transfer die fake which aren't easy to detect.

 

Sorry about the mistake on the weight. I read the weight on the other coin and got confused.

 

You owe Barry a beer not just for spotting it but tracing the origin coin too. Well done!

A found a couple other ones which are more obviously fake:

http://www.coryssa.org/2488747
http://www.coryssa.org/2430675

Rasiel

 

Sucks it’s a fake, partly why I don’t buy ancient gold, and cost.

 

@Mat ....It sure does too bad gold is my favourite category of ancients... maybe I'll stick to NGC certified from now on to have some peace of mind.

 

Well, if it's any consolation @Roman Collector, it most certainly would have fooled me as well.