I have just joined this forum and this is my first post, so hello to everybody. I am currently collecting mainly Greek bronzes. In his books on Greek Coins David Sear said “The problem of counterfeit coins is largely avoided by the collector who specializes in bronzes…”. I have always though that to be plain common sense. Why would a forger take the considerable time and trouble required to produce a fake good enough to fool collectors for common bronzes of modest value? However, I came across an article today which referred to the discovery some years ago of a counterfeiting operation in Sicily. They were apparently producing huge quantities of good imitations of some reasonably common bronzes such as the Himera nymph hemilitron. It made me think about how common similar counterfeiting operations might be. Which brings me to my question. Recognizing that there will always be some fakes and a collector needs to be vigilant, do people think that what David Sear said 40 years ago holds good? Is the problem of counterfeit coins still largely avoided by the collector of bronzes?
Fake Greek bronzes are a problem. I have been burned before. You need to do your homework before buying.
yes a huge homework, especially with sicilian bronzes and despite that, you will have some forgeries for sure. I consider myself in the upper range of the vigilance and I have 15% of "proven" forgeries not counting the doubtful ones. Of course, most of them were bought at the beginning of the collection... you have to pay for knowledge But nowadays, informations are more easily available so you could more easily avoid many of them.
