In the upcoming Baldwin's sale (Auction 28, 2 February 2019, Lot 15), https://www.sixbid.com/browse.html?auction=5619&category=183956&lot=4694939 here is what we can find : an antoninianus of Mariniana tooled, and the professional didn't notice the anomaly of style of the portrait nor the crescent characteristic of antoniniani, while Paulina silver coins are denarii. Of course, just the legend has been carved. Dramatic or funny example ! If you have such examples, don't hesitate ...
Yeesh, wrecking a $150 coin to try to make it into a $400 one... I sincerely hope this one gets taken down before it comes to hammer.
At least Baldwins called it a denarius. It is a mite heavy and the face is a bit petite for Paulina. Have you reported it to them?
No, I didn't. I tried to warn professionals in other situations, and the coins were though sold. In the present case, the crescent is a discriminant character. Impossible to say no, this is not a fake. I would be afraid this information would disappear. I could spend a life informing about fakes, and some of CT members too. I did it and I lost many hours. And personally, I prefer informing the most fragile people, than teaching “experts”. As far I can see, Doug, your efforts to support beginners and your educational attitude contribute to the persistence of knowledge. I think that informing Baldwin's is the best way to misinform people if the photo of this coin would disappear. Many of the photos have disappeared from many sales, and even though from forgerynetwork.com. An error is not a shame. What you do with it explain if you decided to learn and grow, or if you don't want to... Baldwin's has many other high skills. This is a minimal error.
