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 Replies: 5 / Views: 1,832 |
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Valued Member
United States
66 Posts |
I purchased this Philip II from Macedonia as a "second" or "third" coin (after purchasing a primary coin) from another collector on ebay about 3 years ago. Once in hand, the honeycomb like gaps, especially visible on the obverse above the "hair" made me think it was a cast fake. There is no visible seam line on the edge. 16mm., about 5.5gm. Brassy color. (As it was only a dollar or 2, I didn't give it a second thought...)   Just this week, an ebay seller listed an Alexander III with the same appearance - honeycomb like gaps at the edges and around the figures. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Kings-of-M....m1438.l2649I've cropped the seller's photos -   Fakes? Not fakes? Any ideas? |
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Moderator
 United States
34428 Posts |
I'm not sure that I have ever seen coins this porous. Thry sure look like casting bubbles to me, but I'm interested to read what our Greek coin experts think.
"If you climb a good tree, you get a push."
-----Ghanaian proverb
"The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed."
-----King Adz
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Moderator
United States
23731 Posts |
I've come across a few coins of this type that are in the same condition, I attributed it to environmental damage.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
Surface roughness on the first coin makes it difficult to determine if ?corrosion-ground burial? or ?casting?. If casting, then the remains of a sprue is sometinmes evident.
If cast, then quite often, the remains of a casting sprue has been filed off. Examine the edge closely.
The second coin is also rough, but enough of the obverse design remains to question the design style, and this leads the thinking to consider it as a cast fake.
It seems to have a brassy color, almost all copper based ancient Greek coins are bronze, not brass.
OK for the price. I keep an extensive collection fake ancient coins for my own education, to defend myself against fakes. If you have any doubt about the probability of a coin being fake, then only offer a dollar or so for it.
Better to miss a genuine bargain, than be caught with a very expensive fake.
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CCF Advertiser
United States
1306 Posts |
Well for both series, anytime you clean a bunch of ancient Greeks from lots with dirt no question ancient lots of worn Greek coins, you get a ton of these. So they are not really candidates for forgery in a horrible state like these are. Perfect examples of course yes, but you always have to think about market value in monetary incentive. The only exception in my opinion for the second coin being a fake is if it was mass produced exactly the same in the hundreds so the coin could be make for maybe 20 cents and sold for tourists. But then you have to look at the seller next and this seller is selling a ton of lower end coins they are identifying and those they can't they are putting up in lots. So from another auction here is a photo, from this same seller, that has groups of uncleaned Greek coins and trust me, if you harshly cleaned this group below, you would get some of Alexander the Great and his father Philip.  |
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Valued Member
 United States
66 Posts |
When I got the coin 'in hand', it reminded me of some scrap metal pieces I'd seen in a slag heap in the early-mid 1970's(?) The scrap metal pieces also had a porous look like they'd been too hot (or too cool) and not been given enough time to cool, or cooled quickly... I have some awful looking coins in my collection, mostly from being in the ground, some from having rotten flans to start with, and some which were cleaned by "dolts" - and none had this kind of surface. I'm still inclined to keep the coin in the questionable/fake part of the collection (which now consists of this coin :-) There is a plus, or epilogue to this story: It spurred my interest and researches into the ancient Olympic Games. I've done extensive "work" on the modern Games; however very little on the ancient Games. In terms of coins, now, I keep an eye out for ancient coins with an Olympic theme or symbol - like Philip's 3 wins in Equestrian events.
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Replies: 5 / Views: 1,832 |
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Posted 06/08/2019 07:58 am
