Two More From "The Twelve Caesars"

It looks very odd to me.
I Don't like the smell of this one.

Like week old 'Bulgarian' Feta

@Dutchgulden

There is no seam on the coin, it is a trick of the lighting.

@Fvrivs

I have checked the fake coin reports on Forvm and have not found a match. This does not of course mean it is not a fake. However, I did have have the coin looked at by an expert I trust and he gave it the all clear.


Thanks to all for your input.

The areas of the eye (including arched brow) and mouth (Sly Stallone type lips) do look somewhat strange to me.
I have avoided silver for many years and claim no expertise on the subject.
That said I am still very leery of this one.

Second photo makes the coin look more authentic. Looks like he was in a good fight with a swollen eye and nose but a very nice coin

The seller has agreed to take the coin back and issue a refund. The coin is on its way back to the seller.

I am curious as to what is the best policy for our forum regarding auctions sellers for coins we suspect are fake. On one hand we do not want to drive traffic to them with links. However, while I suspected this coin and indeed after looking at CNG types like it, I would have made a bet four to one it was fake, nevertheless I needed more. In other words, the details of the seller. If the seller is selling out of Croatia or some known area of fakes abounding and has other fakes, plus private bids, well that seals the deal for me. In this case it was at an Expo, so perhaps a link to the seller website or ebay site would help.

Pishpash

Thanks for the kind words. You are right I will find the right coin eventually. It is fairly easy to get discouraged, but kindness helps.

Caesar

I have been wondering about this myself. I did not want to identify the seller because it is possible that it was an honest mistake. I will not post a link either for the same reasons. While it is possible this means someone else might get a suspect coin, I do not want to unfairly impugn the reputation of the seller. Thankfully there are plenty of helpful people on sites such as this who freely give their time to help others.

I will just comment under the "honest mistake". I have only been collecting for a year, however I have a zero tolerance policy towards sellers of fakes. I often feel as if we hold said sellers to the American criminal standard of "Beyond all reasonable doubt". That is the wrong standard in my view. I feel the more judicious and more appropriate standard is "preponderance of the evidence". I just feel an expo seller should know better. I know fakes can be incredibly accurate, not this particular Vitellius, but some indeed can be especially on the valuable end. I also know that there are a variety of inexpensive albeit lengthy options to verify authenticity of said coins. I think considering the margins of most coin sellers that it should be included in the cost of doing business that they do their due diligence and get coins authenticated. Indeed, a free way is due to the very generous contributions here. I also know authenticity is not an exact science. Nevertheless I think any buyer of coins should be discerning and back away with even the slightest doubt.