Trajan coin authentic or cast?

By the way the filing looks new I mean it looks fresh doesn't look it has been done in ancient time.

 

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You have received advice from people who know what they are doing in the field of ancient coins and yet you refuse to accept it. I do not think you want to be helped.

If you are looking for 100% certainty do not collect ancients.

 

This has been a fascinating thread... usually it’s people who bought fakes desperatly fighting to prove they are genuine rather than the other way round...

 

@FitzNigel Well I need some support of it being fake to facilitate the return but nevertheless I think my 2 point should be valid for making the auction house to refund me.
I dont think anyone could answer these 2 points:

1. why it has Iron content?
2. why would anyone damages edge of a genuine coin to reduce its value. Ancient coin is valuable and does not make any sense someone damage and file/scratch it unless that person trying to hide something(maybe a cast sprue)

please if you think I am wrong provide for reasoning for my points above.

 

It's understandable that you wouldn't want to discontinue doing business with an auction house that's been satisfactory in the past. Maybe this will help you come to a resolution with them. But I reiterate that trying to convince others on this site that your coin is a forgery is not constructive in resolving the issue with the auction house.

 

@IdesOfMarch01 the issue is I called them today and they said they accept refund if coin is fake but I said they should have said edge filing in description but they did not mention it at all . that is why to facilitate this I was hoping to come to conclusion that it is fake

 

I'm am by no means an expert in ancients but I have a few and have looked at a lot of coins over the years. When I first saw your pics, I said "looks good to me, what do the experts think".

Regarding your Iron question. As other have stated, ancient metallurgy was hardly an exact science. Who knows what could have been in the melt. Who knows the composition of the ore body. And who knows how much recycled silver/metal vs ore was used. IMO, what I would want to look for are trace elements that were not available to the Romans in metallic form to prove it was a modern fake, and Fe isn't one of them. Do you have some V, Co or Cr that would indicate a modern steel got into the melt. In addition, XRF only tells you how much Fe is in the sample, not the composition. Is it Fe2O3 or Fe3O4 or metallic Fe? And XRF only measure the surface composition, not the entire coin.

I can't see the edge marks but taking your word they are present and appear to be recent, could it not have been dropped, or somebody tried to doctor a rough edge. Maybe this is a legitimate reason to request a return, but I think that's pushing it.

You received opinions from some very respected and credible ancient experts saying it's authentic. There are also a lot of questions regarding the Fe in the composition and you've shown nothing to indicate it came from a modern steel source. I understand if you have buyers remorse, but don't try to blame it on the composition. Just my opinion

 

It seems to me both of your concerns have been addressed. And rather eloquently by Oldhoopster above.

 

@Oldhoopster you are right the iron could be surface detection I agree. But the edge filing issue it seems recent and I see scratches meaning it cant be dropped it seems someone used sand paper or some other tool to file that leaves parallel lines/scratches . What I don't understand is why in modern time someone would do such action as doing this just hurts the coins value and no one is stupid to do such thing it just doesn't make any sense.

 

I am only a casual collector of ancient coins, but please don't get yourself into a tizzy over this coin. The very experienced people here have pronounced it as a genuine coin, so you need to give that up. Now as to damage, damage to an ancient coin is not the same as damage to a modern coin. Why and when the damage occurred is anyone's guess. If you want to reveal how much you paid for it, I am sure many members could tell you if that was a good price and some might even offer to buy it from you.

The seller might be willing to accept it back if you simply claim damage to the coin, but drop the fake part. Do you have the original listing so we could see it?

 

What a surreal thread!

@arashpour, when I read this exchange I assumed you were making a joke but now I see you are serious?! That is not a significant difference.

The flan could have been filed before the coin was struck. That's not terribly unusual, is it? It's not unusual for many provincial coins. I have at least one earlier Greek coin which had filing on the edge, probably during flan manufacturing.

Some auction houses (like CNG and Naville) are accommodating to customers who are dissatisfied with the coin even if the reason is no fault of the auction company or their representation of the coin. It sounds like the one you are dealing with isn't as lenient about such things. I guess you can just stop doing business with them if it bothers you that much.

 

@TIF and @Kentucky Thanks for info and helps. I bought the coin for 170 here is the link:

https://cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=360753

@TIF I contacted CNG and they said they only return if fake but I told them the description was missing to mention the edge is filed. They asked me to send the coin back but the lady said she can not promise if they will be able to refund which is disappointing I am not happy with this coin even if genuine. I simply want to return it I DO NOT want a filed and suspicious coin in my collection . I hope they are lenient with me for this I never return to them and if this coin did not have filed edge I would not even doubted it.

 

Dang...Good luck.

 

@Kentucky you think it will be hard to return it? Have you had any experience like this?

 

Haven't bought from them bur from what I know they are stand-up guys and should do right by you. Let us know.

 

what do you mean "stand-up guys should do right by you"?

 

Sorry, it means they are ethical sellers and they should honor a resonable request.

 

I hope so I will know next week.

 

This same thread was started over at Forvm a couple of days ago, everyone there said it's genuine as well. CNG had the coin in hand and they will not be swayed if someone in a chatroom agrees the coin is fake.

 

@Nemo even not fake but it was not mentioned the coin has edge issues. So CNG should be able to accept refund. It was mis-described.