Romismatist

Yes, I would say from everyone's comments that it's a fouree mule, or contemporary counterfeit. The fact that it's a mule isn't surprising; sometimes fourees were muled so that the counterfeiter and others "in the know" would be able to recognize the coin as a forgery while the more common folk would be none the wiser. Some styles of fourees were so good that people think they may even have been struck at official mints to make the silver go further, or for use in far-flung provinces. For example, a lot of Claudius' denarii found in Britain were fourees.

Cool coin. Haven't seen too many plated medieval coins... most of the plated issues I've seen have been Greek (from the emergency Athenian issues) or Republican and imperial Roman.

The recent EBay "silver" (billon?) coin seems too high grade silver and too thick to be an antoninianus. If you look at the details of Tacitus' beaded necklace and the pellets on the top of his right shoulder, the EBay coin is clearly not an obverse die match to the aureus examples, although the style is very similar. The way the hair is executed is also slightly different. I would agree that the surfaces on the EBay coin also look pressed rather than struck. I would pass on this one.

I wouldn't worry either, and agree with everyone that the toning makes the coins look more attractive. Toning rate will depend on the type of silver as well as what it's exposed to. I had some shock white silver medieval coins tone to a rich orangey-yellow around the highlights in about three months, and others that barely changed in the same amount of time. I wouldn't worry... the toning only positively impacts the coin's value, and doesn't imply it is fake (if that's what you were worried about).

looks good to me

All of the coins I posted were acquired in the past few years.

This Postumus antoninianus cost EUR 13... with postage, it was probably about EUR20. I find you can get some good Postumus ants in this range if you shop around a bit, especially on EBay France. Here's a nice and historical "Saeculares" coin of Philip I showing wolf and twins reverse. It was about EUR 33 and is definitely better in hand than in the photo: Although Augustus denarii are usually pretty pricey, you can get quinarii for significantly cheaper... this one with ASIA RECEPT obverse was EUR28. Again, these seem to show up more frequently on EBay France. Even first century denarii can be had at prices well below $100. They will be a bit more worn and will usually have a few issues, but they are still interesting to collect. Here's an example (not my coin) which sold for EUR 39 of Trajan with Trajan's column reverse: This Hadrian Italia reverse went for EUR10 in a Savoca auction (again not my coin), but even with fees and shipping it was probably less than $100 And a Hadrian Alexandria denarius that went for EUR 11 (again not my coin) Another favourite of mine is the Trajan Decius Dacia antoninianii... they were minted in great quantities and can be had for well under $100 in fairly decent condition. This one was EUR 42: What about a Vespasian Iudaea denarius for eur20? Tons more in my files but that should be a good indicator that you can build a great collection relatively inexpensively if you wanted to, and it doesn't all have to be LRBs.

Cool write-up, many thanks John!

@JeandAcre and @seth77 should have some ideas. I agree with your comment about EBay... I would stick to reputable auction houses and places like VCoins and MA Shops, as well as known French ancients dealers specializing in Medieval coins like cgb.fr. Although you will likely need to sacrifice quality to stay below your budget of $200! Charlemagne is definitely out of price range IMO.

I've missed your posts, @dougsmit, so glad to see you back in the game! Nice coin... agree with @DonnaML and others that it's a beauty no matter where it's from. It's also never fun coming home empty-handed, so glad you were able to get something that piqued your interest!

Yes, I saw these for sale as well. Lanz regularly sells fake coins as well, and has begun openly advertising them as such. It's always good to give people a heads up about sales of these replicas as you're right, after a few cycles into unscrupulous hands they will turn up in EBay or maybe even within reputable auction houses as authentic! Caveat emptor...

It looks authentic to me as well. Looks struck not cast, nice patina (although that doesn't always validate authenticity) and some metal crystallization (?) on the cheek. I see nothing to be concerned about.

Oops, my bad no globe on the reverse...

Here's one that went on sale back in 2013 for EUR 75 at Pecunem, but went unsold. It looks genuine and appears struck. https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=lot&sid=495&lot=263 The obverse looks different in style to all the other examples you've shown.

That one looks like it's a weathered version of the Bulgarian counterfeits I own.

The second coin that surfaced in 2000 was definitely a modern Bulgarian forgery. I have two of them in my "black cabinet" that I purchased back around that time. The flans are different but they are reverse and obverse die matches to the Baldwin's / M&M coin. They must also have been struck with some silver content as they have both toned in the ~20 years I have had them.

Thanks @Deinomenid, yes, this is Volume II and is currently in print. You beat me to it; my copies are being shipped to me currently, and I was going to post about this when they arrived. I'm just reviewing Volume III (the final volume), which is expected to go into print this summer. The other work you're probably referring to is the one solely focused on the diobols of Tarentum. That one is incredible as it has pictures of pretty much every Tarentum diobol in public collections and recent auctions that are out there. It's a great resource if you're into die matching and comparisons for that fractional denomination. Alberto has done a really fantastic job with these works and yes, I think it expands the readership to have the volume in both English and Italian. It's been really great working with Alberto on this. I would say that this series brings analysis of the coinage of Tarentum into the 21st century, expanding on Fischer-Bossert but building in recent developments as well as bronze and later coinage.

@ambr0zie, you are among friends here. I echo everyone else's sentiments in saying that I am truly sorry for your loss. Many, if not all of us, struggle with aging parents and it is difficult when they pass, especially when we have complex relationships with them. I am in a similar situation with my own father at the moment. Like your mother, he has incurable cancer, and it's frustrating not to know when he will pass, except that it may be days or weeks rather than months. For this reason, your words especially resonated with me. Take care and have faith.

Hey @Ryro, The countermark looks kind of like an upside-down kantharos. Some of the Tarentine obols have this same style (not my coin, although I have several of this type:

I would be interested in a thread like that... always up for learning from the experts in this forum, whether they are discussing a coin in their collections or a coin that's for sale.

Great! Glad everything worked out for you both!

Hello @Deinomenid, Yes, I was involved in this book. It is the first of three (the other two are still in production). You can find the related diobol publication at the publisher site here: https://www.edizionidandrea.com/. If you have any trouble, please PM me and I will see if I can help further.

Thanks for your thoughts on this, @AussieCollector and @Jay GT4!

Hello everyone, this diobol recently sold at auction; it is a diobol of Tarentum with Herakles on the obverse. These coins are scarcer than the usual ones with the head of Athena (for the complete compendium of the issues of this sizeable denomination from Tarentum. see the work I cited in an earlier Cointalk post here. Looking through my auction files, I noticed that the same coin sold in January 2022, but the surfaces of this coin appear significantly more scuffed up: It's pretty clear that it's the same coin, and that some of the scratch marks across the cheek and in the fields have been removed. What do you think? It doesn't really constitute tooling. It's a pity the patina has been removed along with some of the deposits, but the changes do make the obverse more aesthetically pleasing in my opinion. As a side note, it's interesting that the coin previously hammered for EUR 140 but only EUR 110 this time around. So if the seller was hoping to make some money in cleaning / improving the coin, it didn't happen...