Late Roman Bronze Coins

Coin talk => Vandal and Ostrogothic coins => Topic started by: Victor on March 25, 2017, 03:38:56 PM

Title: fake Vandals civic issue
Post by: Victor on March 25, 2017, 03:38:56 PM
the top coin is a pretty poor attempt at copying a Vandals issue. It is being sold on eBay by georgkris in the UK.

the second picture is a real example

Vandal Civic Issue
A.D. 480- 533
10x11mm    1.2gm
Obv: diademed and draped bust of Carthage left, holding palm.
Rev: Bar over N over IIII in three lines.
Carthage mint
MIB I, 20 (Gelimer); BMC Vandals 12 (Huneric); MEC 1, 55
Title: Re: fake Vandals civic issue
Post by: tjaart on March 25, 2017, 06:38:13 PM
Something I always find funny in these photos are the "attempt" (at least that is how I interpret it) made by them to show how they don't handle the coins with their hands yet use a metal tweezer to hold the coin :)
Title: Re: fake Vandals civic issue
Post by: livingwater on March 26, 2017, 10:15:46 AM
Some fakes are obvious.  But I am impressed by modern fakes that are hard to detect.  The ancient coin field is so wide and varied that I think it really helps to know someone like you Victor, and others on this site, focused on a specific area with years of learning and handling coins to spot quality fakes, tooling, etc.  Some forgers are really good at making fake patinas that look ancient.  The link below is by Fontanille, an expert in Jewish coins.  These are not LRBs, but it shows great photos of before/after cleaning, tooling.   There aren't many sites that show a coin before/after it's been worked on.  There are examples of painted legends to deceive the buyer.  Fontanille also has some youtube videos of cleaning and altering coins.

http://www.fontanillecoins.com/tooling.htm