Possible Fake Coin

[Martin L]

I purchased a gold tremissis , Maurice Tiberius from a local Auctioneer approximately 2 years ago, I just accepted that it was a genuine coin. I decided to sell it on and advertised it on eBay. Someone queried its authenticity which prompted me to weigh it. It weighs between 1.1 and 1.2 grams. All the examples I find online weigh between 1.4 and 1.5 grams. Have I purchased a fake coin or could it be genuine?

[jelida]

Any chance of photos or a link?

[Martin L]

Sorry the files are too large to upload

[rpeddie]

convert to a smaller size, pics will help judge whether the reduction in weight is justified

[Martin L]

It is the weight I am concerned about it seems to me the coin is not heavy enough to be genuine.

[Martin L]

I don't know how to convert files sorry.

[Peckris 2]

22 hours ago, Martin L said:

I don't know how to convert files sorry.

Google it. There's lots of free software out there to reduce image sizes and file sizes. Here's an online resource:

https://www.img2go.com/compress-image

[jelida]

How about a link to your EBay ad?

[Martin L]

22 hours ago, jelida said:

How about a link to your EBay ad?

Sorry I don't know how to do a link either. I withdrew my eBay add after I doubted its authenticity. I will try to work out how to reduce the file.

 

[JLS]

On 3/6/2020 at 11:33 PM, Martin L said:

I don't know how to convert files sorry.

A really quick but lazy way to do this is to use screenshot software (try "snipping tool" if on Windows) to capture the photo as it displays on your screen. 

[Martin L]

19 hours ago, JLS said:

A really quick but lazy way to do this is to use screenshot software (try "snipping tool" if on Windows) to capture the photo as it displays on your screen. 

 

[Martin L]

[Martin L]

I'm trying to work out how to convert and attach the obverse.

 

[Peckris 2]

Hmm. I find it very difficult to pronounce on  gold coins as the lack of toning on gold generally removes one obvious indicator.

[JLS]

6 hours ago, Martin L said:

Nothing screams "fake" to me here. The reason it's underweight is more likely because it's clipped, most of these were struck with flans larger than the dies. The straight edge on the right of the reverse looks suspicious. 

Very easy to get the style of the reverse of these right though - just a matter of doing the lettering; would be interesting to see the portrait.

[Martin L]

On 3/10/2020 at 1:35 AM, JLS said:

Nothing screams "fake" to me here. The reason it's underweight is more likely because it's clipped, most of these were struck with flans larger than the dies. The straight edge on the right of the reverse looks suspicious. 

Very easy to get the style of the reverse of these right though - just a matter of doing the lettering; would be interesting to see the portrait.

Thanks for your observations. I think that I'm satisfied that it is genuine. The Auction House where I purchased it employ coin experts to authenticate lots I don't think that a fake could have slipped through. I was bidding in competition with another online bidder and paid almost twice the Auction House estimate which I thought appeared low. Which probably means that they made allowance for the clipped segments which I hadn't.

[JLS]

On 3/20/2020 at 10:10 PM, Martin L said:

Thanks for your observations. I think that I'm satisfied that it is genuine. The Auction House where I purchased it employ coin experts to authenticate lots I don't think that a fake could have slipped through. I was bidding in competition with another online bidder and paid almost twice the Auction House estimate which I thought appeared low. 

It most probably is genuine, I would agree. 

Having said that, if you'd really like to be sure, David Sear himself is willing to authenticate ancient coins; money is not wasted as the certification does make pieces more saleable, and he may pick up interesting features than non-experts would miss. https://www.davidrsear.com/certification.html

As for the clipping, if it's ancient that's OK and it doesn't reduce value too much. The problem is that a lot of these coins were mounted in jewelry, from the time when they were made to the 20th century. When removing a coin from jewelry, it's often more salable if there's no trace of mounting at all, so someone unscrupulous might remove a little bit of the edge of the coin to achieve that. In any case you bought it at auction so there was at least one other person out there who thought it was worth roughly what you paid for it ! 

Edited March 23, 2020 by JLS