"Rich in detail portrait" -- because IT HAS BEEN TOOLED AS ALL GET OUT!

[Roman Collector]

This tooling job is very obvious. Should I be shocked the dealer didn't notice?

Here's a non-tooled one from my collection for comparison.

 

Edited August 26, 2023 by Roman Collector
Better photo

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

I wish we had a puke  emoji!

I'm no expert, but sometimes worked-over coins have tell-tale rosy blotches in the fields.

[ominus1]

.....'LOOKS LIKE THE WORK OF 'THE CHIESLER!"

[Roman Collector]

I can't warn you enough -- Antonine bronzes circulated for DECADES and if you see a high grade Antonine bronze be VERY leery. This is what they usually look like:

[Steppenfool]

The chin, nose and jaw are very ugly! The portrait has none of Faustina's dignified nobility about it. Looks like some botched cosmetic procedure from today's era. 🤣

Edited August 26, 2023 by Steppenfool

[Roman Collector]

Here is one in the British Museum collection. It's about as high grade as you'll encounter. Looks nothing like the toolie for sale.

[Limes]

22 minutes ago, Roman Collector said:

This tooling job is very obvious. Should I be shocked the dealer didn't notice?

Here's a non-tooled one from my collection for comparison.

 

Must be me, but I dont see any problems....

🤣

 

[CPK]

That's pretty egregious. Reminds me of a Trajan/Dacia sestertius I saw recently on eBay which looks like it was tooled by my 5-year-old son. 

[Sulla80]

I'm no Faustina expert - but I think the tooling is pretty obvious.  For those who crave such things there are some sellers on ebay fraudulently selling modern imitations as genuine ancient coins.  checkout "coinsbob" - this appears to be original art masquerading fraudulently as ancient.  I find myself wondering why the talented people who engage in this aren't making much more money in legitimate businesses. (caveat emptor)

 

Here's a genuine and imperfect Antoninus from AD 139....RIC III Antoninus Pius 569A

Edited August 26, 2023 by Sulla80

[LONGINUS]

9 minutes ago, Sulla80 said:

"coinsbob" - this appears to be original art masquerading fraudulently as ancient.

That’s an interesting site, @Sulla80!

Those coins remind me of ones created by children in a history museum program.

 

 

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

Here's some decrepit (and have a great patina) yet honest, Antonine coins.

[Ryro]

I suppose that's one benefit of not specializing in Roman imperial coins. Man, do they get faked a lot. 

Reminds me of just how good is moderns are at making everything look better...

[ambr0zie]

I remember I had my doubts when buying this sestertius, although not pristine condition, but still looked a little too good to be true. But after confirming with @Roman Collector, this one wasn't ruined by an idiot. 

But anyway you people are too harsh. The seller said "rich in detail portrait and graceful depictoin of Juno"

He said nothing about "original details" or "original depictoin". 

[Roman Collector]

37 minutes ago, ambr0zie said:

I remember I had my doubts when buying this sestertius, although not pristine condition, but still looked a little too good to be true. But after confirming with @Roman Collector, this one wasn't ruined by an idiot. 

But anyway you people are too harsh. The seller said "rich in detail portrait and graceful depictoin of Juno"

He said nothing about "original details" or "original depictoin". 

That's a lovely coin, indeed. 

[Roman Collector]

I am happy to report that the dealer has responded to my concerns about it being tooled and has withdrawn the item from sale. This is the e-mail from the firm:

Hello [Roman Collector],

thanks for the feedback! It is much appreciated!
Stuff hit the fan with this coin indeed. My bad.
My apologies for the malaise caused.

Kind regards
Harri Friedel

[AETHER]

Is it safe to assume the patina is fake too? Since they need to cut into it?

[Roman Collector]

30 minutes ago, AETHER said:

Is it safe to assume the patina is fake too? Since they need to cut into it?

And concomitant smoothing. 

[hotwheelsearl]

Now I'm scared. This is one of the nicest Faustinas I've ever seen.

Is it legit?

[Marsyas Mike]

On 8/26/2023 at 2:05 PM, Roman Collector said:

I can't warn you enough -- Antonine bronzes circulated for DECADES and if you see a high grade Antonine bronze be VERY leery.

My Antonine AE's are pretty smooth, mostly.  

And here's my favorite  - from an eBay auction.  I was going to bid on it because it is so ridiculous, but the bids kept going up up up.  Are those pearls or does the Empress have a snake coiled all over her head?  Somebody went a little overboard with the burin: 

 

This one is about as nice as mine get - I'm not entirely sure it didn't get a bit of tooling along the way.  It was affordable thanks to the reverse damage:

Edited August 30, 2023 by Marsyas Mike

[Limes]

hi everyone, thanks for posting this @Roman Collector. Some cases of tooling are obvious, some are less obvious. Overall, I still find it difficult to notice cases of tooling, from photos, where the case is not so evident. If you are ok, I would like to add some photo's taken from coins from a recently published digital auction catalogue. These are just a few of the coins that stand out, and raise questions. Whats going on here, tooling and smoothing? 

This silver denarius jumped out. The portrait is a bit off, but why I show this, is because I noticed the raised edge, which appears on the photo. Is the metal on the obverse worked on, smoothed? I also think I can see quite a few marks on the reverse. Am I correct? 

Well, nothing more to add here....