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 Replies: 9 / Views: 1,253 |
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Valued Member
France
322 Posts |
Hello, Someone is selling on ebay this coin, without reference, with a weight that is false for an hekte and even more for a stater (4,1 gr). I have the impression that this is a Becker forgery, except that the exemplar I found on CNG from this forgery is silver and not electrum as seems to be the coin sold. What do you think? Is this a forgery or not? The change in metal is puzzling. Any view on this?   |
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Valued Member
 France
322 Posts |
I forgot the reverse  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7066 Posts |
Hard to tell without better, side-by-side photos, but I think these may well be from the same Becker die(s). I've read that a number of Becker's forgeries were struck in the wrong metals. I've also read this: "Following Becker's death in 1830, his dies were transferred to the Berlin Museum, which used them to strike off-metal copies that were made available to museums, dealers, and collectors." This makes me wonder if perhaps one of these Mytilene forgeries is from Becker's lifetime, and the other is a later off-metal re-strike.
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Valued Member
France
322 Posts |
Very interesting, Bob. Thanks
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Moderator
 United States
34393 Posts |
Quote:
Hard to tell without better, side-by-side photos The quadpartite punch is quite close, but still looks a little different to me.  "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
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7066 Posts |
I'm not sure, Dave, how imperative the use of the exact same quadripartite reverse punch was with Becker forgeries. I suspect, but don't know for sure, that he had multiple similarly sized punches that could be changed out - or that, if one of these coins above is a later emission by the Berlin Museum (or by other individuals), they may have used a different Becker-produced punch for their run. This is all just speculative, of course. My point is, I don't think a mismatched quadripartite reverse necessarily means the coins weren't produced from Becker dies, or that the obverse is not a match. But I'm out of my element here.
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Moderator
United States
34393 Posts |
Ah ok, yes good point that there may have been multiple rev punches.
"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
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3433 Posts |
I rotated the B&W and removed the color from the other Seems like a bit of similarity going on Almost like someone peeking out of a window !   Not definitive But enough for suspicion |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1554 Posts |
Look just to the upper left of the "face in the window". Both coins have an identical set of four dots forming a sort of triangle.  Edited by Kushanshah
08/31/2020 2:55 pm
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Moderator
United States
34393 Posts |
I see what you guys are talking about, but I can't get over the difference in rib shape. The exemplar has two ribs which are strongly triangular but the OP's coin has only one. Even accounting for uneven striking, I don't see how that happens (but again, I'm not really speaking from a position of knowledge).
"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
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Replies: 9 / Views: 1,253 |
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Posted 08/30/2020 10:11 am
