Fantastic coin. Don't see many outside of a museum in this condition. Gold coins are not in my area of collecting, mostly because of their price range. So to see one like this is a thrill.
Normally since you just joined today we wouldn't allow a link to another site, but I will allow this one.
When a coin looks distressingly like an inauthentic one, as this one clearly does. The next questions involve provenance, weight, size, and where the coin was acquired from. The simple statement, "My coin is authentic" is not going to do it. Indeed, it has the authoritarian tone of the very Emperor depicted on the coin. Alas, mere acquisition of the coins of Emperors imbues none of us with their Imperium.
I looked at the video before I rolled on further to BobL's comment. I thought the fields on both sides of this coin looked way too smooth and shiny, to be unlike any other ancient coin I have seen.
My first thught after this, is that it should be examined with an XRF instrument, looking for trace elements, not gold. The best purity that the ancients could refine to was about 95%, which left a rich legacy of other trace elements to look for. The ancients did not have the benefits of modern electrolytic refining methods. I feel that this coin was struck from either modern coin gold of 90%fine / copper, or 22ct fine / copper or silver.
Where did this coin come from? The provenance of this coin needs to be verified, not just an allegation.
Well I'm the only one that seems to feel this is a genuine coin. On the surface I see some scuff marks which to me says that it has been polished or at least wiped. While I do see some similar details in the fake example that Bob posted IMO there is enough differences to make them not the same coin. For example the lettering is not the same, the letters are more defined in the OP coin. The full rim details also looks like what I would expect to see in a genuine coin. That is missing on the fake one. That being said I must admit the marks on the neck of both coins are very similar which while odd are not enough to convince me that it's fake.
Knowing what little I do about ancient gold coins is another reason why I stay away from this area.
I don't profess to be a respected expert in this area. There are other opinions here in the CCF that I regard that are better than my own. However, I think it is always healthy to be suspicious when it comes to ancient coins that could turn out to be expensive to acquire. The equivalent is to do due diligence when buying a classic car or real estate, even if you don't suspect that anything may be wrong.
In most posts of mine like this, I almost always suggest further investigation, rather than just condemning a coin outright.
I do notice in this case however, that the marks on the neck are the same on both coins.
I agree with sel. It doesn't feels good to have a coin in your collection which is probably a fake one. Especially gold coins are highly faked. I'm hoping its genuine of course but I can see comparisons like in the neck as already being said.
Your coin is authentic! The obverse die of the fake in forgerynetwork was taken from an authentic coin but it was combined with a reverse die from another mint so impossible die combination which condemned the fake in forgerynetwork. I wrote that in the description in forgerynetworK!
"There are no such reverses for Diocletian listed in RIC, at Antioch (the mint for the other two coins) or elsewhere. Note the absence of the mint-mark and the valuation mark (? = 70 to the pound), which means it cannot be an unpublished specimen from Antioch (since the dies are the same), since all of Antioch's aurei had such marks at this time." The obverse die is from an authentic coin from Diocletian from Antioch mint, but the reverse is from another authentic or fake coin from another mint. Authentic coin with same obverse but with the correct reverse can be seen here: http://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=262233 Forgery Type
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Posted 12/30/2015 2:32 pm
