Some Fakes Can Be Very Expensive

On April 25th of this year CNG sold a number of fake ancient coins from the late Jonathan Kern collection. Several coins from that group caught my eye, especially the fakes made by the master forger Carl Wilhelm Becker, 1772-1830. The real eye popper was the coin pictured below, a fake Naxos tetradrachm, c. 430-415 BC. The coin had an estimate of $200 & I was willing to go to $300 to get it. I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw the price realized, $2,875.00 !!! I did manage to buy one handsome Becker fake from that auction for $138, pictured below the Naxos tetradrachm. It is a Greco-Baktrian tetradrachm of Heliokles Dikaios, c. 145-130 BC, & had an estimate of $100.

 

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Wait what? People sell fake coins, and some are willing to pay $2,875 for a fake coin. I'd better get into this business...

 

Move to Bulgaria or China, they do well.

 

I don't get it either. Sure the "coins" look nice but I'm not into modern forgeries. I can get behind ancient forgeries though.

 

Allow me to explain: Some museums in the 18th and 19th centuries commissioned replicas and/or electrotypes of some extremely rare coins for which there were only one or a handful of specimens known. Due to their pedigree, some of them can command extremely competitive prices as the pieces of art that they are. This is not just the work of some Bulgarian or Greek forger in his basement, but rather the art work of a highly sought craftsman from centuries past that was created under official commission of a well respected organization or government institution. I say that's definitely a cut above your typical forgery, and is definitely worthy of being considered as a piece of numismatics art.

Same goes for the so-called Paduan forgeries. They were made by highly respected and reputable master craftsmen in the Renaissance era (1500's through 1700's) and have become extremely collectable and highly sought after objects of numismatics history/art. The style and artistry of these centuries old forgeries is uniquely readily identifiable by knowledgeable collectors, and very desirable to a certain portion of the ancients coin market that seeks to collect well known, studied, and documented historical forgeries produced by some of the most talented European craftsmen of their era.

I don't expect this will be everyone's cup of tea (certainly not mine), but I can respect the historical and artistic value of these "coins."

 

well, i'd pay a premium for a Becker..and i've bid on a few but was outbid..i'm still looking tho...he was the master of that trade and his coins in and of themselves are collection worthy to me and several 1000 others..

 

Dr. Spock & ominus1, thanks for the add-ons & clarifying some of the comments. Carl Wilhelm Becker was a master celator with an encyclopedic knowledge of history & numismatics. He made his fakes the same way the ancient minters did. He cut his own dies, made his own planchets (usually from melted down ancient coins), & struck his coins by hand. Most importantly, he loved ancient & medieval coins as much as we do.

 

@Al Kowsky



What's that? Oh well, apparently I've been informed by the Florida Bar that I am in fact a lawyer, not a doctor. Eight years of school for such a useless profession...what a shame.

Anyway, Spock, Esq., will suffice. However, I will also answer to lesser known titles for attorneys, such as Spock, Blood Sucker., or Spock, Ambulance Chaser Extraordinaire, or simply Mr. Blood Sucking Leech, or Mr. Parasite. Any of the above is acceptable. I think after 229 years of American jurisprudence, we've earned every single one of those lofty titles.

 

As already pointed out forgeries and replicas (even fantasy pieces) are highly collectible. At one point I had a complete run of the works by Slavey Petrov. At the moment I only have these two:


Carl Becker Forgery, 19th Century, Gela – Messana Hybrid
Silver Tetradrachm, 26mm, 12.25 grams
Obverse: Charioteer driving walking quadriga right, Nike flying above.
Reverse: MES S A NIO N, Hare springing right, head of youthful Pan below.

References:
Hill 18, note


Paduan Medal, Vespasian, after Giovanni Cavino, 1500 – 1570 AD AD
Æ Sestertius, 34mm 23.18 grams
Obverse: IMP CAES VESPASIAN AVG P M TR P PP COS III, Laureate head of Vespasian right.
Reverse: ROMA RESVRGES, Vespasian standing left, extending hand to Roma who is kneeling right, behind her Minerva holds shield, S C in exergue.

References:
Lawrence32 // Klawans3

 

I saw Jon Kern about a few days before this sale at a Chicago show. I’m hoping the coins were late of his collection not from the late Jonathan Kern.

 

My favorite: Bottom feeding blood sucker! Beautiful day, eh?

 

Sorry about the misinformation, I confused Jonathan Kern with Tom Cederlind, who passed away on December 16, 2015. I've had pleasant dealings with both of these dealers.

 

There is room for discussion on whether Becker was a great artist or a scoundrel. As I recall the details of the story he sold sets of his coins as replicas but was also known to try to fool experts who were on his list of people who needed to be brought down a notch. I can not find my reference right now but I believe he got started after being cheated with a fake coin which drove him to return the favor to that seller. Does anyone have that story in mind? There is a book on him:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-lis...d_used_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=used&qid=&sr=

The big thing about Beckers, just like the Paduans, is there are fakes of the original fakes and then fakes of the fakes of the fakes. Becker's products were made by associates immediately after his death and by Peter Rosa sometime later. Today there are (not very deceptive) Chinese replicas stamped copy in the field and Becker on the edge. Original fakes of the original master sell well, I believe, for good reason.

Should we be collecting the better makers of fakes from more modern times? We hear a lot about Slavey and some of his works are excellent. Others strike me as not at all dangerous. Part of the problem is he made coins from the same old silver coins despite the correct alloy for the coin being copied. I bought a few at $4 apiece 20 years ago when they were easy to find but none are really dangerous to anyone with any experience with the originals.

Becker, fake of fake of fake in pot metal - struck from the original dies rather than being a cast of a cast of a copy, would this design fool you?


Slavey Caligula - deceptive unless you have ever seen a real one?


Slavei Pescennius Niger - Note the fabric is like the Caligula while originals of the two are nothing alike. No genuine Pescennius has this good silver.


Black Sea Hoard Mesembria hemiobol fakes fooled a lot of people 30 years ago. I still have a special sale insert offering these for $265 in 1989. They are less today. What is fair? I wish I had bought an example of the Apollonia type when they were available but $5 seemed like a lot to pay for a fake.


Many collectors of ancients have a 'Black Museum' with things they were glad did not fool them or wish they had known then what they know now. Education is expensive and not all education comes from books.

 

Is there any chance you could use normal fonts (NOT bold and italic) for your posts? Every time I see a post that's both bold and italic, I assume it's quoting some other news story and that it's not the poster's own words.

 

IdesOfMarch01, Sorry about the confusion but I've been using bold & italic script for many years including all my emails. When I quote another source I always use quotation marks "" or underline the script. If I receive more negative feedback I'll change.

 

This is true. Becker was the recipient of a fake Aureus of Commodus. When discovered and confronted the seller replied something to the effect that it served him right to be deceived as he should have known better. Try that nowadays!

But Becker, while oft referred to as 'The Counterfeiter', never seemed to intend to deceive anyone. He never presented his creations as anything but replicas and his work was very well known at the time. The controversy comes in as there were a few shady deals here and there where we dont know if he tried to pass them as genuine or not (and nobody will know at this distance in time).

The real problem arises with his work as once into the market and after some time many people thought they were genuine. And I am sure on occasion they still pass for the real thing when they come to market. Will this happen with Slavey's works? I dont know. I would not think so, his artistic style is so unique only a novice would not know the difference, and a seller should know what he has.

Doug, I dont think that Nero of yours is a Becker. It doesnt show in the references. The only one he issued was Nero with Agrippina, wreath reverse, which he struck in gold and silver.

 

[/QUOTE] I passed on a 1794 Dollar priced at $ 600 because it looked like a China fake. However it weighed correctly and its measurements were spot on. I passed, however a coin expert paid $ 3000+ for it later that day.

 

+1

 

From my black cabinet, paid $ 4 for it :



The Naxos OP tetradrachma is nr 4 in Harlan's Berk top 100 greatest ancient coins , 61 known, Harlan's estimate $ 250.000 for a tetradrachma.