New Becker Forgery (For Me, Anyway)

[KenDorney]

Over the weekend I had a coin show in which I picked up an interesting 'coin'.  I knew instantly of course it was fake, as it was overly heavy (I figured lead) and the flan had a casting seam around the edge.  But it was such a lovely thing I knew I had to have it.  With no access to my books I wasnt able to look up if it was a known type, but posting a pic on Facebook resulted in it being a Becker forgery.  

Carl Wilhelm Becker was a forger operating in Germany in the 19th century, and rather than taking time here to sum up who he was and what he did you can get a free book read of the standard book and catalog of his works here:

https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book//lookupid?key=olbp98216

On to the coin:

 

Its a Siculo-Punic type Tetradrachm, expertly and attractively rendered.  Becker died in 1830, and his family continued on to produce a few more of his fakes (which by then were well known as being false but highly collectible), striking them in lead/tin alloy, not quite and nicely as Becker had done but with his dies.  They were made up to 1911 when his dies were transferred to the Saalburg Museum.  According to George Hill, the author of the book, only 331 coins in total of all types were produced after his death, though it could be more.  These were sold for 40 Florins each at the time.

This is only my second Becker, the first being a hybrid tetradrachm of Gela and Messana:

 While I do not have an extensive collection of fakes and forgeries, these two are certainly my favorites.

I would be very interested to see what others have!

[expat]

The engraving of his dies was certainly impressive. Certainly not surprising that they are collectible.

To my understanding I believe I have 1 fake. I base this on the extensive list of images of this type, even though there is not an example that exactly matches a die shown on the list of fakes.

Histiaia. Tetrobol circa III-II century BC, Euboia. AR 10.5mm, 1.55 g.
Wreathed head of nymph Histiaia.
Rev. IΣT – AIEΩN Nymph seated r. on galley; below, trident. BCD Euboia 387.

 

[Romismatist]

4 minutes ago, expat said:

The engraving of his dies was certainly impressive. Certainly not surprising that they are collectible.

To my understanding I believe I have 1 fake. I base this on the extensive list of images of this type, even though there is not an example that exactly matches a die shown on the list of fakes.

Histiaia. Tetrobol circa III-II century BC, Euboia. AR 10.5mm, 1.55 g.
Wreathed head of nymph Histiaia.
Rev. IΣT – AIEΩN Nymph seated r. on galley; below, trident. BCD Euboia 387.

 

Yes, some experts believe that all of these Histiaia tetrobols with the "standing hair" type are fake, even though there are several different dies used to strike this type. 

[JeandAcre]

Very cool examples, @KenDorney!  While not quite on bucket-list level, if I ever landed one Becker and one Paduan, I wouldn't argue.

This goes back to some library book I read as a kid, but its take was that Becker's main 'tell' is that his engraving skill actually surpassed a lot of the originals.  To your point, the book said that they were collectible in their own right, but I had no idea that it began so soon. 

[Deinomenid]

@KenDorney Are you sure that's a Becker? It doesn't look like it from my admittedly rather beat-up old  copy of the Hill book. There are quite a few differences between your coin and this. I'm aware of the irony of suggesting this is a fake of a fake! 🙂

 

[ominus1]

a fake coin is a fake coin..but a Becker is collectors item....kool Ken...after learning about Becker it took me several years to get one...so i got 2. plus the books (parts one and two) by G F Hill ..it adds a lil character to ones collection i'd reckon.. 🙂

Edited April 29 by ominus1

[KenDorney]

1 hour ago, Deinomenid said:

 Are you sure that's a Becker? It doesn't look like it from my admittedly rather beat-up old  copy of the Hill book. There are quite a few differences between your coin and this. I'm aware of the irony of suggesting this is a fake of a fake! 🙂

It’s definitely from the same dies. My first thought before I could get home to my books was indeed that it was a fake of a fake (like many Paduans) as its lead allow. I knew Becker struck all his in correct metals but read that his family did the restrikes in lead alloy. 

[Postvmvs]

I have one "Becker", a later restrike in white metal. It was unfortunately damaged in the post.

Seller photo:

What I received:

[CPK]

Becker was certainly an accomplished artist, if a dishonest one! Beautiful coin, @KenDorney.

[ominus1]

2 hours ago, KenDorney said:

a fake of a fake

not unheard of

2 hours ago, KenDorney said:

a fake of a fake .

always a thought in the collectors mind ..:)..i like to have enough evidence(and opinions) to convince myself that my fakes ain't fakes...><

 

[KenDorney]

1 hour ago, ominus1 said:

not unheard of

 

It just dawned on me I know precisely where your avatar comes from!  I wondered why he looked familiar!  One of my favorites.

[Ed Snible]

According to the seller, "eBay Lanz", this is a silver plated tin-lead alloy.  I haven't had it XRFed and it doesn't really look silver or plated.

It arrived with a rather large cut in it that was not present when this photo was taken.  I don't think it was damaged in the mail.  I could have returned it, but these don't come up very often, and I doubted I could obtain another.

In addition to these tin strikes made from Becker's dies, there was a US "firm" called "Becker Reproductions" operated by Peter Rosa which made replica coins, some quite good, from copies of Becker's dies and copies of genuine coins.  These are documented in Wayne Sayles' book Classical Deception.

 

 

[Anaximander]

How fun! I've had my share of fake ancient coins, but no Becker fakes. I do have George Hill's book, Becker the Counterfeiter, the 1979 Obol International reprint with both works. I enjoy seeing the coins now, as collectors have shared their photographs, which are much better resolution than the book ever managed. They're positively medallic art.