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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 1426379, member: 19463&quot;]Since my name was used here:&nbsp; I have never heard of the gentleman in question but I do not collect modern or US coins and am unaware of the stores where he sells ancients.&nbsp; In ancients &#039;reputable&#039; generally means that they admit errors when made and back up such errors with lifetime warranty.&nbsp;&nbsp; Unfortunately as a matter of fact, I do not trust the opinion of very many people on a very wide range of coins.&nbsp; Most experts in ancients are somewhat specialized and their opinion on a coin outside their area would be appreciated by me but not necessarily accepted as gospel fact.&nbsp; My feeling about this coin is 99% fake and 1% abused genuine but I am no expert.&nbsp;&nbsp; I have said many times that there are somewhat obviously good coins and very obviously bad with plenty of room in the middle for coins with a question.&nbsp; Many, many obviously bad coins can be spotted in photos but even the best of us should know better than to bet heavily on a coin not seen in hand.&nbsp;&nbsp; Offer to sell the coin to Harlan Berk, David Sear or CNG and see how many show interest.&nbsp;&nbsp; If there is such a thing as a genuine silver version of a sestertius matching this one they might know of it.&nbsp; I don&#039;t.&nbsp; &nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Specific gravity is a totally meaningless number unless you know what the number should be for that exact issue <u>and</u> if that issue is one that employed rather exact tolerances.&nbsp; Not all did.&nbsp; There are fakes of rare coins struck on flans prepared from genuine but common ancient coins.&nbsp; I have seen a Becker fake of a denarius of Nero that weighs exactly (to .01g)&nbsp; what catalogs will tell you his denarii should weigh which only proves that Mr. Becker was smart enough to weigh his product.&nbsp;&nbsp; If you are making $1000 fakes you don&#039;t need to be cheap on a $5 chunk of silver.&nbsp; Genuine silver antoniniani of the Gordian III - Philip period vary in weight and alloy by as much as half/double the average.&nbsp; Many ancients were made <i>al marco</i> or intending to make a certain number from a given quantity of metal but not really caring if each individual was exactly the same.&nbsp;&nbsp; Ancients retrieved from burial in certain conditions can show weight reduction from leaching of certain components (like copper) leaving others (silver) in excess proportion.&nbsp;&nbsp; All these &#039;tests&#039; are tools and worthy ones but none will enable anyone to give a certain answer without years of experience handling thousands of coins.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>One more thing:&nbsp; I tend not to trust anyone who bills himself as an expert and no one who claims they can not be fooled.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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