Who wants fakes ?

PCGS doesn't grade or authenticate ancients, that I know of.

 

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Slabbed ancients are a real mixed bag. Your regularly see ancients slabbed by some of the larger agencies where the description and attribution is completely wrong, even down to being the wrong emperor. Grading is even more varied. If I buy a slabbed ancient I generally free it from the slab.
Martin

 

Well that shows how little I know about ancients. I was just thinking - it's a world coin, right?

I've seen some in NGC slabs - no guarantee there either? If not, I'm just asking to get ripped off!

 

NGC does, but as Martin mentioned, it's a roll of the dice.

 

I will say that the one thing that looks the most fake among those fakes is the patina. I'm not saying natural desert patinas can't look like those artificially-weathered coins, but I'm not sure you can fake the hard patinas that some bronzes get after centuries of handling and exposure to various elements.

A lot of really good pieces have been coming out of Spain lately, and this sort of thing makes me wonder whether there isn't an ancient coin factory going on there.

 

this is one factors that keeps me shopping in the bargain bin, i have one coin i strongly suspect is a fake...but i paid 2.50 for it, so.........whatever.

 

I have some nice ancients I bought out of the UK but as uncleaned coins. I cleaned them myself and enjoy these. I did buy one off the Bay last year and the patina and just about everything with the coin looked odd, I think I now know why.............

 

Share the images. You are most probably correct, but you never know.

 

Ok, these represent mostly what I bought and cleaned. Paid $2.50 each for 25 oncleaned coins. These the seller said came out of Romania.:yes:

 

Bing, here is the one off the Bay. It was atributted to Constantins ? 337 - 361 A.D.

 

they all look genuine to me...

 

I'm with Rudi on this. Genuine. Even the one of Ebay. I don't have time to ID it at the moment, but when I return I will if no one else has.

 

A legitimate argument can be made for creating replicas of ancient coins, as long as such replicas are clearly labeled as such. For historical, teaching, and other reasons, replicas can serve a useful purpose in place of genuine ancients.

However, a replica of an ancient bronze, per se, would be created to show the original bronze/orichalcum color that the original coin would have shown when it was in use. During its period of circulation, even a worn bronze would very likely have retained the original color of the metal, since the circulation and wearing of the coin would not have permitted large amounts of green or brown oxidation that aged, out-of-circulation AEs show. If your intention was to make a true replica, why would you artificially tone it so that it didn't resemble the coin that would have come from the ancient mint?

Thus, it seems obvious that the artificial toning of the bronzes in these "replicas" can only be intended to fool the purchaser into thinking that the coin might be authentic. A "replica" of a bronze should be bronze, not toned as if it's been out of circulation for thousands of years. At best, this seller is being disingenuous, but more likely he's being purposely deceptive and misleading about the coins that he's selling.

 

agreed!

Go for it.

 

I have no problem with people making "replicas" of ancients, as long as "copy" or "replica" is molded as part of the die or casting. However, I DO have a problem with those that just can be "stamped" or "punched" as copy or replica ... those kind can be bought from the maker without the punches or stamps. Honest replicas are sold for education or having something that can't be purchased otherwise. What started this thread off was someone selling both coins and dies with the intention of misleading the purchaser or could end up that way. This has nothing to do with counterfeiting, but has clearly been classified as "fraud" both in the US and Canada .. and probably every other civilized Western country.

 

The optimum word Bill in Burl is civilized. These came out of Spain which really shocks me, but I will not buy anything out of some Eastern European countries. NOTHING. I've been burned before.