Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;hotwheelsearl, post: 7333625, member: 75143&quot;]So I got this silver coin from eBay for like $11.</p><p>Let me preface this by saying that this coin was actually purchased from a <i>known fake seller, </i>&#039;holdingancienthistory.&#039; This is the same seller that I purchased the fake Vespasian NEP RED coin from.</p><p><br /></p><p>However, for the price I was willing to chance it. If it turned out fake, I could always return it, so there I went.</p><p><br /></p><p>The flip was <i>atrocious</i>. This seller appears to know little to nothing about ancient coins; that or he was faced with a box of coins and a box of flips, and just mixed them together.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1280804[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>There are several problems:</p><p>1. coin is not Rome mint. Find me a Rome mint coin that uses Greek letters.</p><p>2. Pax standing with.....cat? gato (spanish for cat)? what? I really don&#039;t think cats feature prominently on any ancient coins.</p><p>3. Where&#039;s the attribution? How do you get R-4 without knowing what is it?</p><p>4. $100? How can you price a coin with no attribution?</p><p><br /></p><p>On the bright side, the diam, weight, and composition are correct.</p><p><br /></p><p>Anyways, coin showed up encrusted to death which is why I thought it was more likely than not authentic.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1280805[/ATTACH] </p><p>The surfaces had obviously been worked on, with the excessive scratches. I believe that it was first entirely encrusted, then someone ground down the outer layer to see what it was.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1280806[/ATTACH] </p><p>There were green, black, brown, and red-orange mineral encrustations.</p><p><br /></p><p>I knew this could either be a great success or a miserable failure.</p><p><br /></p><p>I subjected it to a veritable <i>gauntlet</i> of chemicals:</p><p>sodium hydroxide, acetic acid, citric acid, sodium thiosulfate, and at one point I even splashed some <i>gosh-darn Tarn-X </i>on it.</p><p><br /></p><p>Anyways, after over a week of abuse, I end up with this rather more attractive, and most importantly, genuine <i>drachm</i> of<i> Caesaria/Bostra/Cappadocia</i>, with <i>Arabia</i>, not Pax with a <i>camel</i>, not a <i>cat</i>.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1280808[/ATTACH] </p><p>Trajan AR Drachm</p><p>19mm, 3.1g</p><p>AYTOKΡ KAIC NEΡ TΡAIANO CEB ΓEΡM ΔAK</p><p>ΔHMAΡX EΞIH UΠAT IZ</p><p>Syd 185 (may be a different one due to different regnal year, but closest I&#039;ll get)</p><p><br /></p><p>Although I don&#039;t think the coin is the $100 coin it says on the flip, it sure as heck is worth more than $11 now, IMO.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in