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Pontic Kingdom - Polemo II with Britannicus - is it real or a fake?


Prieure de Sion

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At an auction today, unspecified provinces coins came up for auction. One immediately caught my eye. At first I thought of Nero - but then it turned out that this was probably Polemo II with Britannicus (RPC I 3838). Of course, that would be a small chance bargain. But since time was running out - I bought according to the principle - first buy - then check. We are not sure whether this is a fake. Especially the curved line (b) worries us a bit. 

What do the experts think? I have inserted the picture in the "original" and with the areas (red) that we mean.

Diameter: 16.4mm
Weight: 3.5g

 

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Edited by Prieure de Sion
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19 hours ago, Roman Collector said:

The curved line was probably on the die from using a compass to lay out the design. That doesn't bother me at all. 

Thank you. Other acquaintances also see nothing wrong with the silver coin so far. It looks as if I have accidentally got a Britannicus at a good price.

I will send the coin to NGC and have it graded.

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The coin looks fine to me too.  Nice score!!  It's a beautiful coin.

My bargain Britannicus is considerably less beautiful, but it only cost me 5 euros. (Cheapest Britannicus ever? Maybe @Finn235 can beat it, maybe with a group lot. 🙂)  It was unidentified in the auction, and either nobody else realized what it was... or they just didn't have as low a quality threshold as I did! 😆 (Oddly enough, there was another example in the very same auction, only slightly better, which sold for thirteen times as much.)

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AEOLIS, Aegae Britannicus: 41-55. AE18, issued under Chaleos, magistrate c.43-48. Obv: BPЄTANNIKOC KAICAP; Bare head of Britannicus to right. Rev: ЄΠI XAΛЄOY AIΓAЄωN; Zeus standing front, head to left, holding eagle in his right hand and scepter with his left. RPC I 2431. Rare.

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