| Author |
 Replies: 12 / Views: 2,068 |
|
|
Valued Member
United States
356 Posts |
I recently acquired a Theodosius I RIC 15a. It seems quite rare. I traced it to an auction in Germany, earlier this year, then suprisingly sold to me via Heritage at 1/3 the cost. I have it in hand, and the color, legend and general look seem off. I am curious as to what others think. I have some enhanced photos here. Thank you in advance. Weight checks out, 4.45 grams, 20 mm   Edited by caesar77
10/04/2016 5:00 pm
|
|
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
6130 Posts |
Gold is way outside of my comfort zone, but it does seem very... red?
I assume the weight checks out?
|
|
Pillar of the Community
Spain
629 Posts |
The "red gold" is made of an alloy of gold and copper while the "yellow gold" is made from gold and silver...
Roman gold usually is "yellow gold", but not always...
|
|
Moderator
 United States
23731 Posts |
I honestly don't like the looks of this coin, the coin does seem to be off, more copper color than gold and the surface appears to be pitted. The letters are not as sharp as I would expect also. Gold is not my area either, so I could be wrong. But I would have some doubts about this one.
|
|
Moderator
United States
34430 Posts |
Quote:
surface appears to be pitted @caesar, I wonder if you can give us a couple super close-up pics in areas such as the cheek on the obv and the victor's chest on the rev. As with the others, I'm no expert in this material, but I wonder if getting these magnified views might be useful. At least on the obv, those look more like tick marks and dings than casting bubbles to me, but again that level of detail is hard to make out with these pics. "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
|
|
Valued Member
 United States
356 Posts |
I turned the coin over to Heritage and they plan on having NCG authenticate the coin. How does everyone feel about NCG? If they claim it is real, should I have Sear authenticate regardless, as I trust him.
|
|
Moderator
United States
23731 Posts |
I think you would be better off sending it to David Sear for certification.
|
|
Valued Member
United States
356 Posts |
Here is a better photo of the coin.  |
|
Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
I find it a little odd that there seems to be a surprising number of late Roman gold coins around the age of this one, (1600 years or more), that display absolutely no wear whatsover. Gold at the purity that this coin should have, is rather soft.
I agree that David sear's service is the best one to which this coin should be submitted for authentication.
When a coin that has this level potential value, there remains the induction to invest the highest level of current expertise that is available, to produce a 'modern' example to sell at a genuine price.
I have to confess, that this coin looks genuine to me.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
Spain
629 Posts |
Sell...
In those times life was very hard for general people...
...they used copper coins in their daily life, but when they were going to pay their taxes...
the taxes must be paid in gold coins, so they must buy gold coins to pay their taxes (at a very hight rate), and then those gold coins were melted into gold bars (that were much easy to test than coins), translated to an official mint and then coined again.
That is the reason that explains the fact that Late empire gold coins appears always in hight grade condition (and rarely mixed)
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
3444 Posts |
I believe the answer you seek is indicated by the amount you paid.
Paying one third the price as it brought at a "recent" auction would seem indicate that there are some concerns among the experts.
I am nooooooo expert as far as gold coins are concerned.
But I believe any verdict will be a 'split' decision.
As for my own observation the coarse surfaces (which I take as enviromental) seem to be absent in some areas.
Especially some parts of the fields both obv and rev.
That worries me.
Edited by FVRIVS RVFVS
10/05/2016 12:56 pm
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
6370 Posts |
NGC does not authenticate coins. If you look at their terms, the authenticity of ancients in their plastic is not guaranteed.
|
|
Valued Member
United States
356 Posts |
I received word back today that two top Ancients experts, both of whom studied under Sear and are quite esteemed have slabbed and certified this coin as authentic. Naturally, I am thrilled. I appreciate everyone's feedback! https://www.NGCcoin.com/certlookup/4254652001/ |
| |
Replies: 12 / Views: 2,068 |
|
Posted 10/04/2016 4:01 pm
