Fake Trajan...what Are The Signs?

The other images are REALLY relevant here as they illustrate the edge with a blatant casting seam including filing on the edge.

Martin

I agree with Doug, this coin is a bit worse for wear and it's appearance can be due to that. I can not dismisses it as a fake without having it on hand to examine.

Yes. This thread was a set up and I bit. The photos of the obverse and reverse were presented but why were we not shown the edge photos that make it 100% obvious that the coin is a cast fake? Could the coin be an ancient fake? Possibly, but the edge seam all around the coin with file marks where the sprue was removed shows that it was not an official, struck coin. However, any signs of it being ancient have been removed by harsh cleaning so there is no reason to believe the coin is anything other than a modern copy.

I should have gone to see the Forvm post before making the first comment but I will repeat that I can not accept this question as having been asked in good faith when it was decided to shown the photos shown and hide the fact that there were edge shots and that those edge shots were what was discussed condemning the coin.

On my page on fakes:
http://www.forumancientcoins.com/do...th/fake.html
I show a cast fake of a denarius of Septimius Severus including an sdge view that is no where near as good as the one on this Trajan. My page dates back to when I was trying to make my pages faster loading for people with dial up modems. I really need to redo that page instead of wasting my time here!

Doug Smith - Is there a good write-up on what constitues a silver foil coin fake or what process was used to make silver foil ancient fakes?

John Lorenzo
United States

Ummmm, ok. I think you're being a tad hasty in casting me (no pun intended) in this rather negative light. I apologise for overlooking the other pictures, but that's all it was- a simple error. And easily explained too. I didn't realise that one had to be logged in to see images in the Forum discussion boards. As I wasn't logged in, I saw nothing to indicate that there were other, more incriminating pictures. When I popped back into this thread just now, I immdiately retrieved my password from Forum (having forgotten it), logged in, and saw the other pictures. That's it. There was no attempt to pull the wool over anyone's eyes, or pull a stroke. I'm newat collecting ancients, and I value the opinions of others here, especially yourself, so the last thing I would wish to do is annoy people by acting the dick.

Apologies for the omission, but hand on heart it wasn't intentional.

On the plus side though, I know now what a casting rim looks like, and I also know that one needs to be logged into Forum to see their pictures!! Not bad for a cock-up of a thread!!

I have several pages on the subject but if you want something more authoritative I suggest the book I list on this page:
http://www.forumancientcoins.com/do...fourree.htmlhttp://www.forumancientcoins.com/do...fourree.html


"For more technical information on fourree production techniques and great cross section photos, see:

Campbell, William, Greek and Roman Plated Coins Numismatic Notes and Monographs No. 57, American Numismatic Society, 1933."

In case you're still wondering about that, the answer is no, the casting seam is not really visible from that photo - but it is clearly visible in the additional photos posted on the FORVM thread. It's the line running through the middle of the rim, where the two halves of the casting mould joined together and some of the molten metal flowed in between the gap.

For the benefit of those not registered on FORVM, here is a CCF thread where a casting seam is clearly visible on the edge of a counterfeit modern coin; this older thread shows a nice clear casting seam on a fake ancient coin (though the pics in that thread are imageshack-hosted and may expire at some point).