Roman Coin Authenticity

CGB.FR is a great place for relatively inexpensive coins. They tend to be decent commons or beaten up higher-value coins, but I always check out their Monday auctions and have purchased from them in the past with no problems.

Hi Jskirwin

Thanks for reply but these 3 coins where everything but inexpensive I paid quite high specially the vespasian and the caligula ones but they come with a pedigree so that could add to price.

I like irregular flans. Round coins make me nervous because of the coinage process: a handmade, irregularly heated (sometimes) flan of mixed metals stuck between two dies that are struck by a hammer. This leads to an irregular, non-round shape - but people expect coins to be round so some of the easiest fakes are round to meet people's expectations. It's one of the simpler rules of thumb. it doesn't mean that all round coins are fake (they're not) nor are all irregularly shaped coins genuine. But these look stylistically right.

The Aurelius looks like an honest coin struck using dies showing some wear. There's all some metal stress marks radiating outward around the lettering that says .

But I've taken the advice I was first given when I started this hobby 5 years ago: If you don't know enough to trust the coin, go with a trusted seller. You won't go wrong by limiting yourself to Numisbids.com and Vcoins.