Opinion on Domitian Dupondius please.

+1 to that. I bought a coin on eBay from someone listed in the Netherlands and was unhappily surprised when it arrived postmarked from Sofia, Bulgaria! The coin itself looked good, though, so I kept it.

As for the OP coin, it's kind of hard to tell with the low res images, but my impression is that it looks tooled, or, at least aggressively smoothed. I don't really know enough to comment on the style per se, but I will note that Domitian's portraits do tend to be a bit variable. This portrait isn't really raising any red flags, but the fact the seller is on Esty's fakeseller list for aggressive smoothing while I think it looks tooled is definitely a warning sign to me.

 

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That's a tough one for me to call. I lean towards genuine but all the concerns already noted keep flashing through my mind. @David Atherton is the best source for this one.

Here's a 'roughly' similar example that sold for $160.00 from CNG at acsearch....and yours below for comparison:

 

I just found this one on CNG as a closed printed auction. It sold for $1900

 

Never!!!!!!!

 

No the portrait on this one looks like Domitian. Again, however, I want to be wrong on this.

 

Yes, it looks more like the portrait on the coin that Mikey Zee posted

 

Hi Alde, to me, portrait on yours looks strange: nose, crown and hairstyle... But i might be wrong, also as a good habit, i would stay away from sellers with less than 1000 feedbacks as a seller. Again, this is not a guarantee of successful purchase, but at least a good starting point. Also, stay away from private listings and people who, in their descriptions of the coin, mention "genuine", most reputable auction houses don't to that, cause they know that their coins are genuine - no need to mention that

 

Exception: if it's preceded by the word "guaranteed."

 

hmmm, I don't know about this one, i think none of the reputable dealers have to put it out there "guaranteed genuine". Is there a need? if there is already established reputation, but this is just me and my observation, i might be too conservative or too suspicious

 

It looks authentic in terms of style and overall appearance--i.e., it looks both ancient and Roman. It's a bit underweight compared to average, but not unheard of. I suspect it's genuine but has been subjected to smoothing in the fields. You'd have to examine it under a loupe for tooling and repatination.

 

+1

 

I don't have an opinion worth stating save perhaps that it is not good to put too much weight on opinions from photographs or too little on coins from places I would not buy coins. I bought mine (11.9g) in 1995 from a dealer who now has a vCoins site but no one did in 1995. I have not learned a lot about Domitian in 22 years and probably won't be changing that either. I have many things on my list ahead of that. When conducting witch hunts it is good to remember that there may or not be a real witch involved and drowning an old woman was considered proof of her innocence. Would I buy the coin? Certainly not but it has almost nothing to do with the coin and a lot to do with its origin.

Most of us are 'too' or 'not enough' on any given day. I suggest realizing that you will make a certain number of mistakes and so will the most trustworthy of dealers. If that situation prevents your enjoyment of the hobby, you might need a different hobby. If I have one fake per thousand purchases, I'd say I am doing well. One in ten? I suspect the number is between those extremes.


I probably have a dozen coins that I would not sell to someone who knows less than I do. If I sold them to a professional and they turned out bad, I would have to return the money but would not feel I had wronged them. We both just erred. When you set yourself up as a professional and sell your expertise to beginners, a higher standard is expected. Do your part and buy from people who would feel bad if they sold you a fake until you get to a point you feel comfortable in your own opinions.

 

Very good advice Doug. I will do my best to follow it.

 

The coin has clear legends. Is it too late to edit our OP description to match?

 

Done. Not enough coffee I guess.

 

(corrected )

 

Right you are. Maybe it's too much coffee. I fixed it again. Sorry everyone.

 

In my earlier post on this thread, I listed the correct obverse legend as well as the correct RIC attribution (367).

I think aide's error in his original post was due to the incorrect RIC number 262 (287 in the revised edition), probably given by the seller. In fact, Domitian RIC 262/287 has the legend IMP CAES DOMITIAN AVG GERM COS XI but lacks the CENS POT PP on the obverse.

While an incorrect attribution isn't a particularly strong indicator of a fake, the fact that the obverse legend was (apparently) so wrongly stated despite being obvious on the obverse makes me even warier of the seller.

 

Oh, right. Sorry, IOM. I forgot that you had already corrected the legend and RIC number.

Going through ACsearch shows a coin which appears to be a reverse die match (or possibly a "mold match"). I'm not sure about the obverse, nor does this settle the matter of authenticity (either verdict).

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=257704

 

thanks for posting this list.