Please Mr. Forger, at least make an effort!

[Ursus]

I just saw this coin offered on ebay Germany:

It is a dramatically failed attempt at faking an exceedingly rare gold stater of Pyrrhus of Epirus. There is just so much wrong with it. Take a look at Athena's jaw (an orthodontist's nightmare), the little ghost owl in the left obverse field, or Victory's leg posture that says "I need to go to the loo – urgently"! I believe this is the worst and most comical fake I have seen so far. It gave me a good laugh. Now, I am even tempted to buy it...

For comparison, this authentic example sold at Morton&Eden for more than my mortgage is worth:

Please show me the worst (or funniest) fakes that you have encountered!

Edited January 25 by Ursus

[ambr0zie]

What bothers me (very much) is that, not knowing the type and not being aware that this type is only in gold, I would have been tempted to consider this a genuine example, perhaps with some "enhanced engraving" on the obverse. 

[Qcumbor]

I quite like Athena's pout. Imagine her with orange hair !

😄 Q

[JayAg47]

I can definitely see this fooling some novices! especially with the radiating lines on the reverse, since we always tell them as one of the hallmarks of a genuine hand struck coin. 

[Hrefn]

In place of the helmet, the forgery features an Agathodaemon performing a proctological exam.

(Sorry, but once you see it, you can’t unsee it.)

[Deinomenid]

Here's on from a while ago. The seller said it was  just tooled but  it's so screwed up in a cartoonish way  it may be a straight forgery with an odd double strike attempt to justify. Nothing compared to your ghost owl @Ursus!

Leontini Apollo. Apparently.

 

~ What they were attempting -

 

 

Edited January 25 by Deinomenid

[Ursus]

On 1/25/2024 at 11:53 AM, ambr0zie said:

What bothers me (very much) is that, not knowing the type and not being aware that this type is only in gold, I would have been tempted to consider this a genuine example, perhaps with some "enhanced engraving" on the obverse. 

I see your point. The lesson here is probably to not buy coins before researching them thoroughly.

23 hours ago, JayAg47 said:

I can definitely see this fooling some novices! especially with the radiating lines on the reverse, since we always tell them as one of the hallmarks of a genuine hand struck coin. 

This is why I am skeptical when it comes to such advice. I remember that in a fun thread back on CoinTalk, @TIF showed some "ancient coins" from a mysterious place called Tiffily in Tiphonia showing an Iguana and a small TIF-monogram. She apparently had struck them with a hammer and some rebar pieces engraved with the help of a dremel. There is no reason to believe that professional forgers can't do the same and thus create forgeries that have all the right cracks and "flow lines."

The best advice to avoid forgeries in my opinion therefore still is "know the coin or know the dealer".

22 hours ago, Hrefn said:

In place of the helmet, the forgery features an Agathodaemon performing a proctological exam.

(Sorry, but once you see it, you can’t unsee it.)

Oh my dear, you're right – I can't unsee it! Thanks for that.

19 hours ago, Deinomenid said:

Here's on from a while ago. The seller said it was  just tooled but  it's so screwed up in a cartoonish way  it may be a straight forgery with an odd double strike attempt to justify. Nothing compared to your ghost owl @Ursus!

That troglodyte Apollo is pure gold. Reminds me of good old Mr. Tooly here:

Edited January 26 by Ursus

[Al Kowsky]

Pictured below is the worst fake I've encountered, knowingly purchased as fake ☺️.

The coin pictured below is the best ancient fake in my collection ☺️.

 

 

[Ursus]

In my eyes, Becker forgeries are collectables in their own right. Fortunately enough, they are well-published. Otherwise, I at least would have a hard time to distinguish them from real ancient coins. Becker certainly had artistic talents and was meticulous in making his coins appear "right." Allegedly, he tied pouches containing fake coins and iron filings to the axles of his carriage to slowly give them the appeareance of having been circulated for ages...

The Bode Museum in Berlin owns some of Becke's hand-engraved dies. He apparently struck his coins the same way the originals were produced, making it even harder to identify them as fake:

[DonnaML]

1 hour ago, Ursus said:

In my eyes, Becker forgeries are collectables in their own right. Fortunately enough, they are well-published. Otherwise, I at least would have a hard time to distinguish them from real ancient coins. Becker certainly had artistic talents and was meticulous in making his coins appear "right." Allegedly, he tied pouches containing fake coins and iron filings to the axles of his carriage to slowly give them the appeareance of having been circulated for ages...

The Bode Museum in Berlin owns some of Becke's hand-engraved dies. He apparently struck his coins the same way the originals were produced, making it even harder to identify them as fake:

Fascinating! But now there are fake Beckers, too! It never ends.

[Deinomenid]

26 minutes ago, DonnaML said:

But now there are fake Beckers, too

There are many thousands of these, courtesy of  Peter Rosa, who even named  his  reproduction (he claimed never to  be a forger)  company  the "Becker Manufacturing Company".  I've heard it said that the Bronx is  one of the key  mints in many current collections.