Author Topic: Fausta and Helena Antioch/Nicomedia forgeries  (Read 3091 times)

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Offline romeman

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Fausta and Helena Antioch/Nicomedia forgeries
« on: June 13, 2018, 05:44:23 AM »
Dear fellow coin collectors,

We need to do more to stop the avalanche of forgeries. Not only do they constitute a fraud, but they threaten our hobby (and they mess up my research as well). One thing we can do is to publish known forgeries, for the benefit of all.

We must also ask the dealers to spend a greater effort in researching the coins they sell.

I will here give a disturbing example of a large number of forgeries. They were published already in 1989 and 1990 in the Bulletin of Counterfeits (BOC). Unfortunately, the Bulletin is a collector’s item rather than a widely used reference (a complete run of the bulletin was sold in 2015 for over $2,000).

You who read this may well be the unlucky owner of one of the forgeries shown below. They have all been sold to someone. The sellers include a dozen of the major auction houses as well as respected dealers. They have sold the coins as genuine, unaware that they are forgeries. Sadly, had they checked the BOC they would have recognized that their coins were not genuine. But they didn’t.

These forgeries are so deceiving that it is almost impossible to identify them individually. I have bought two of these to study, and they are near perfect, but not entirely. I will not reveal what details in the coins themselves that show them to be forgeries because that information would then become available to the next generation of criminals. However, by die matching (see below) I can show that they are forgeries.

If you own further examples of these forgeries, or know of any, please let me know.

Lars Ramskold

Offline Victor

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Re: Fausta and Helena Antioch/Nicomedia forgeries
« Reply #1 on: June 13, 2018, 09:16:01 AM »
Thanks for posting...yikes...I recognize 2 of Helena that I sold. These were coins that I got from bigger auctions like Roma and Numismatik Naumann, which is not much of an excuse, but I tend to not be so cautious when I buy from these auction firms. I know that you must be always vigilant, but it is too easy to get complacent.

If you don't have the Bulletin of Counterfeits, you can check the forgery network, where the BOC fakes are uploaded.


Also, if I sold anyone one of these, let me know. (edit- I searched my records and emailed them about their refunds)

If you happen to see someone selling one of these, think about sending them a message about it being fake...they will probably appreciate it...I know that I would.

http://forgerynetwork.com/default.aspx




http://forgerynetwork.com/asset.aspx?id=cFA8we7wuUQ=




http://forgerynetwork.com/asset.aspx?id=cm5gXmAhfgM=



http://forgerynetwork.com/asset.aspx?id=UTJ1x55Ecmc=

"romeman" commented on this example -- For further double die matched forgeries see: Obolos9-788-theStoecklinCollection; CayonLive8-48; RomaNumismaticsE-sale5-885-Glu¨cksburg Collection; Hirsch284-3048-exBlancon 2008; LAC23-256-(2013-03-14).



http://forgerynetwork.com/asset.aspx?id=KjpZ95ePZN0=


Offline romeman

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Re: Fausta and Helena Antioch/Nicomedia forgeries
« Reply #2 on: June 13, 2018, 12:20:41 PM »
Thanks Victor,

You are a totally honest seller, and the buyers will appreciate it. I have been in contact with some auction houses that are reluctant to admit that they sell forgeries. But others are like you, open and honest.

These forgeries are the tip of an iceberg. I have previously published a number of forgeries, and I have a huge collection of others. I fear that coin collecting is endangered by these forgeries more than it is by cultural property ideas and import restrictions.

If is exceedingly difficult to reach the producers of fakes. So I aim at the buyers and sellers. Together we can make coin collecting a fun and interesting hobby, free from fraud.

Offline six2ten

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Re: Fausta and Helena Antioch/Nicomedia forgeries
« Reply #3 on: June 13, 2018, 04:59:38 PM »
Hi Lars

Thank you for the very informative post on your detective work. Noting your concern to not give away how the forgeries can be detected, did the BOC report include any details on why they condemned these coins?

Allan

Offline romeman

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Re: Fausta and Helena Antioch/Nicomedia forgeries
« Reply #4 on: June 13, 2018, 05:24:35 PM »
I wish I knew. Only the images from BOC are available online, not the text (and only two sets of BOC have been sold in the last five years, for thousands of dollars, almost certainly to wealthy collectors who get the upper hand against the sellers) and from what I hear IAPN are very protective about these volumes. Not for economic reasons but as they say, for "obvious reasons" they cannot let this information lose. In plain language: dealers would have to stop selling all the fakes they regularly put up for auction. The bliss of being ignorant.