Too Good To Be True ? It Looks Real To Me ! But Is It ?

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Author	Replies: 4 / Views: 1,175
FVRIVS RVFVS Pillar of the Community United States 3446 Posts	Posted 03/02/2017 7:12 pm Some time back I was browsing around the world when I spied a dupondius of Hadrian that looked rather nice. The price seemed awfully reasonable too so I stopped for a closer look. Hmmmmmm No reverse pic ..... Not much of an attribution either. (Trajan dupondius) And the seller was peddling vintage movie ephemera ? Literally thousands of vintage movie materials. Mixed in were some few very nice looking Roman coins. Several months went by and I noticed the coin on my "watch" list. Once again I noticed that it had no reverse. Hmmmmmmm I decided to fire off an inquiry and was very surprised to get a response in a matter of minutes along with the reverse pic. It sure looked real to me ! But the price (72 euros) made me kinda skeptical about this deal. Well nothing ventured ...... nothing gained ! Besides I could always send it back. Long and short of it is despite my skepticism I can't find anything wrong with this coin. Orichalcum dupondius of Hadrian Obv. IMP CAESAR TRAIANVS HADRIANVS AVG P M TR P COS III Radiate bare bust of Hadrian right draped left shoulder Rv. SALVS PVBLICA S C Salus Fortuna standing left with foot on globe holding patera and rudder 13.15 grams 25-7mm Sear 3668 RIC 604a ROME AD 119 The weight is spot on The diameter is correct The fields do have a bit of a fuzzy surface (corrosion I am assuming) Some black (very hard) oxidation is intact on both Obv. and Rv. It does not dissolve in acetone and when rubbed with bamboo does not come off. Despite all my doubts I inclined to think it is real ! Opinions ? Am I missing something here ? I welcome any opinions either thumbs up or down. At prices like this I have only one question of a seller ..... You got any more ? Report this Post to the Staff

josephrg Valued Member United States 234 Posts	Posted 03/02/2017 7:58 pm Coin looks good. It looks to me that the coin was overcleaned a long time ago and is starting to get its nice brass patina back. Report this Post to the Staff
echizento Moderator United States 23731 Posts	Posted 03/02/2017 9:36 pm The bust looks like what I've seen on Paudaun copies, but the overall coin doesn't. I just can't say one way or the other if this coin is genuine or not. It's a nice looking piece though. Report this Post to the Staff
FVRIVS RVFVS Pillar of the Community United States 3446 Posts	Posted 03/03/2017 12:41 am I tend to agree with it having been harshly cleaned a long time ago. Probably wire brushed. If not for the incredibly hard oxidation I also would suspect it being something akin to a Paduan. But I don't think I have ever seen a Paduan dupondius before. So I think we can eliminate that idea. It has a remarkable evenness about the coin despite the slightly irregular flan. I may try and darken it a bit though to tone down some of the brightness. Report this Post to the Staff
greekandromancoins Valued Member Australia 205 Posts	Posted 03/03/2017 01:00 am I tried a google reverse image search on your coin. It came up with photos of roulette wheels. If you don't believe me, try it yourself! Perhaps Google is telling you something? In any seriousness, it appears to match other Hadrian Salus dupondii that I could find. However are you able to post higher resolution photos? Or if there are constraints here in doing so, upload them somewhere else and send us the link? Peter Report this Post to the Staff
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