Constantius II Camp Gate (Recent Auction)

They do look like soldiers holding shields.

Like I said before: it concerns me, I'm careful with these late roman bronzes, too many fakes are being sold on ebay right now

My response was not to your comment Dutch

FVRIVS I think you have a point. It is not a problem I would have noticed myself, I have to be honest. But I have just been through several hundred camp gate LRBs online and a couple of dozen good grade LRBs of my own....not one showed those flow lines. Even saying that, I would not be certain it was an indication that it was fake. I also did a little search to see if anyone else was talking about the presence of flow lines on LRBs being a warning sign and could find nothing. There is nothing else about the coin that looks wrong to my eye. If it turns out to be a fake then very well spotted.

Btw. Hawkhybrid...one often sees one or more letters much flatter than the rest of the legend...or absent. This is due to a plugged die from a previous strike.

Perhaps I was less than clear on this point.
My use of quotation marks indicates my uncertainty that they are real flow lines and not 'enhanced' by the shape of the letters.
Nero displays some curiously shaped lettering although the 'forking' is at the bottom and thus cannot be confused with the outward expansion of the planchet during strike.

I cannot help but note a certain annoyance on your part. I have no dog in this. I did not purchase this coin nor did I even know its source until late last night.
You say you have seen many like it. I have no reason to doubt you.

For myself I remain unconvinced !

If this coin is fake it has to be one of the best fakes I've seen of LRB coins. Looking at the reverse the only thing that might give me a little concern is when you look between the bricks of the gate the fabric look coarse what you would expect to see on a brand new brick. I wouldn't thing that the Romans put that much detail in this type of coin.

Flow lines are commonly seen on half decent fakes and are an entirely unreliable indicator of authenticity, taken by themselves. This has little bearing on the present discussion, I realise...which raises the theory that flow lines in certain circumstances might even be considered unusual or a cause for concern. It's an interesting theory. I agree with you FVRIVS that the ones on this coin are a little odd looking...but on balance I would still expect the coin to be genuine.