F.Y.I. - The feedback received by this eBay seller claims that (at least some of) his coins are 'fakes'. https://www.ebay.com.au/sch/nikafinds/m.html?_trksid=p3692
His mixed lots are slugs combined with a single silver, which is a Bulgarian cast fake. Some of them look as though they are aftercasts of the Bulgarian cast fakes. Every now and then he throws in another modern fake into the mix too.
The Alexander is a fake.... Clearly a cast. The rest of his Alexander tets are the same story. As for the remaining coins, they are so worn they could be anything from real culls of ancients to old 19th century or early 20th century common and worthless European coins that were artificially worn down to nothing but a cull and given a fake patina to make them look thousands of years old.
And this is not a coin, but same story with this ring he is selling. Look at the lack of sharpness and details to the design of what it's meant to be a ring in XF to AU condition. That's not something an ancient craftsman would have done. A fool and his money are soon parted, and eBay has lots of buying fools with too much money and too little sense, and plenty of scammers willing to take advantage of that.
When I first started I didn't know not to buy from Cyprus, and fell for one of his listings. Didn't take long to figure out it was a fake, and he refunded all of my money without argument. I'm surprised he hasnt been shut down yet. The one to really watch out for is ancientground/silverdenar. He sells mostly genuine coins, but always has a few high quality fakes that usually get high bids. Recently I've spotted a lot of Sassanian fakes from him, which otherwise are not usually faked.
I usually just stay away from certain countries, Bulgaria, Russia, & Cyprus are the main listings I ignore.
I thought everyone knew about this guy. This is the kind of a guy who sells group lots containing multiple examples of the same cast fake. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/LOT-OF-6-ANCIENT-GREEK-SILVER-AND-BRONZE-COINS-RARE-/223587113491 WARNING: It is illegal to import coins from Cyprus into the USA (without a ton of paperwork no Cypriot dealer does). So if you must buy from Cyrpus, the best outcome is to get a fake, which at least is not against the law.
