Bought 20 'Fake' Denarii on eBay... Only to Find Out They're Real!

[Harry G]

Hi everyone!

I'm very excited to share my latest purchase! I saw a lot of 20 coins on eBay, described as "Silver plated reproductions" about a week ago. The auction photos were very blurry, but I saw what looked like an antoninianus of Postumus among them, which is a type I don't see faked very much, and also the seller had also sold a few high-end gold coins over the last few months, so I figured there was a chance at least some of these coins might be genuine. I decided to bid in the auction, and won the lot for just over £1 a coin.

They arrived today, and I'll let the photos speak for themselves!

 

Antoninus Pius Denarius - TEMPLVM DIVI AVG REST / COS IIII

Obverse: ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P XXII, laureate head right

Reverse: TEMPLVM DIV AVG REST / COS IIII - Octastyle temple adorned with four statues and a quadriga, seated statues of Divus Augustus and Livia within.

Rome mint

RIC 290a

 

Faustina II Denarius - VENVS

Obverse: FAVSTINAE AVG PII AVG FIL - Draped bust right.

Reverse: VENVS - Venus standing facing, head left, holding apple and dolphin-entwined rudder.

Rome mint

RIC 517a

 

Julia Soaemias Denarius - IVNO REGINA (Probably my favourite of the lot!)

Obverse: IVLIA SOAEMIAS AVGVSTA - Bust draped right.

Reverse: IVNO REGINA - Juno, veiled, standing right holding sceptre and palladium.

Rome mint

RIC 237

 

Antoninus Pius Denarius - AVG PIVS P M TR P COS II

Obverse: IMP T AEL CAES HADR ANTONINVS - Bare head of Antoninus Pius right.

Reverse: AVG PIVS P M TR P COS II - Clasped hands, holding winged caduceus and grain ears.

Rome mint

RIC 27

 

Severus Alexander Denarius - VICTORIA AVG

Obverse: IMP C M AVR ALEXAND AVG - Laureate, draped bust right.

Reverse: VICTORIA AVG - Victory running left, holding wreath and palm.

Rome mint

RIC 180

 

Commodus Denarius - P M TR P X IMP VII COS IIII P P

 

Obverse: COMM ANT AVG P BRIT - Laureate head right.

Reverse: P M TR P X IMP VII COS IIII P P - Roma standing left, holding Victoriola and spear.

Rome mint

RIC 102

 

Trajan Denarius - COS V P P SPQR OPTIMO PRINC / PIET

Obverse: IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P - Laureate head right, slight drapery on far shoulder.

Reverse: COS V P P SPQR OPTIMO PRINC / PIET - Pietas standing left, sprinkling incense over lighted altar to left and holding sceptre.

Rome mint

RIC 104

 

Severus Alexander Denarius - P M TR P VII COS III P P

Obverse: IMP SEV ALEXAND AVG - Laureate head right.

Reverse: P M TR P VIII COS III P P - Mars advancing right holding spear and trophy.

Rome mint

RIC 93

 

Julia Domna Denarius - PIETAS PVBLICA

Obverse: IVLIA AVGVSTA ("I" looks like a "J"!) - Draped bust right.

Reverse: PIETAS PVBLICA - Pietas standing facing, both hands raised, altar at feet left.

Rome mint

RIC 574

 

Septimius Severus Denarius - RESTITVTOR VRBIS

Obverse: SEVERVS AVG PART MAX - Laureate head right.

Reverse: RESTITVTOR VRBIS - Septimius Severus, in military dress, standing left, sacrificing with patera over tripod and holding spear.

Rome mint

RIC 167a

 

Hadrian Denarius - Stars & Crescent

Obverse: HADRIANVS AVGVSTVS - Laureate head right.

Reverse: COS III - 7 stars above crescent.

Rome mint

RIC 202

 

Volusian Antoninianus - PIETAS AVGG

Obverse: IMP CAE C VIB VOLVSIANO AVG - Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right.

Reverse: PIETAS AVGG - Pietas standing left before lighted and garlanded altar, raising hands.

Rome mint

RIC 182

 

Gordian III Antoninianus - CONCORDIA MILIT

 

Obverse: IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG - Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right.

Reverse: CONCORDIA MILIT - Concordia seated left, holding patera and cornucopiae.

Rome mint

RIC 65

 

Philip II Antoninianus - PRINCIPI IVVENT

Obverse: M IVL PHILIPPVS CAES - Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right.

Reverse: PRINCIPI IVVENT - Philip II, as prince of the youth, standing front in military attire, head to left, holding globe in his right hand and inverted spear in his left.

Rome mint

RIC 218

 

Trajan Decius Antoninianus - ABVNDANTIA AVG

Obverse: IMP C M Q TRAIANVS DECIVS AVG - Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right.

Reverse: ABVNDANTIA AVG - Abundantia standing right, emptying cornucopiae.

Rome mint

RIC 10b

 

Otacilia Severa Antoninianus - PIETAS AVGVSTAE

 

Obverse: OTACIL SEVERA AVG - Diademed, draped bust right on crescent.

Reverse: PIETAS AVGVSTAE, Pietas standing left, holding box of perfume.

Rome mint

RIC 130

 

Postumus Antoninianus - SAECVLI FELICITAS

 

Obverse: IMP C POSTVMVS P F AVG - Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right.

Reverse: SAECVLI FELICITAS - Postumus, in military attire, standing front, head to right, holding spear in his right hand and globe in his left.

Cologne mint

RIC 325

Edited September 10, 2024 by Harry G

[Harry G]

Marcus Aurelius Denarius - CONCORD AVG TR P XVI / COS III

 

Obverse: IMP M AVREL ANTONINVS AVG - Bare head right.

Reverse: CONCORD AVG TR P XVI / COS III - Concordia seated to left, holding patera and cornucopiae under seat.

Rome mint

RIC 37

 

Faustina I Denarius - AETERNITAS

Obverse: DIVA FAVSTINA - Draped bust right, hair waved and coiled on top of head.

Reverse: AETERNITAS - Aeternitas facing with veil blown out around, holding globe and hand on veil.

Rome mint

RIC 351a

 

Marcus Aurelius Denarius - TR POT XIII COS II

 

Obverse: AVRELIVS CAES AVG P II F - Bareheaded, draped bust of Marcus Aurelius right, seen from front.

Reverse: TR POT XIII COS II - Virtus standing right, resting left foot on helmet right, grounded spear in right hand, parazonium in left.

Rome mint

RIC 480e

 

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all of them. I'll keep all the antoninianii, but I might also add some of the denarii to my collection!

Edited September 10, 2024 by Harry G

[TIF]

WOW, what a great score!!  😍

[Qcumbor]

Fantastic gambling. You should try the lottery now !

Q

[Curtisimo]

Nice!!!

[Spargrodan]

Very nice, congrats!

[CPK]

Wow!!! Now that was a score!

[Ryro]

What is all of the white stuff covering various areas of many of the coins? Ie, it is below Ant Pius chin and in his ear or on the reverse of Faustina II.

[Ancient Coin Hunter]

Great find.....don't know how you did it. The proverbial needle in a haystack. You'd be lucky to get one antoninianus in a hoard lot supposedly containing hidden gems from those who sell such things 99.5% of the time.

Edited September 10, 2024 by Ancient Coin Hunter

[TIF]

54 minutes ago, Ryro said:

What is all of the white stuff covering various areas of many of the coins? Ie, it is below Ant Pius chin and in his ear or on the reverse of Faustina II.

I wonder if is plaster or jeweler's investment, from making a mold/impression of the coin.  I've seen that a few times.

[Limes]

Score of the year, maybe even decade. Fantastic find! 

You should check out the reverse of Severus alexander. They look strange. The geen spots are either deposits maybe corrosion on a copper core. 

[Parthicus]

A great find, congrats!  But why did the seller say they were just silver-plated reproductions?

[Ryro]

1 hour ago, TIF said:

I wonder if is plaster or jeweler's investment, from making a mold/impression of the coin.  I've seen that a few times.

At first I thought it was to cover up areas of concern. But now I wonder if the seller was casting fakes and accidently sent his real coins??

[TIF]

3 minutes ago, Ryro said:

At first I thought it was to cover up areas of concern. But now I wonder if the seller was casting fakes and accidently sent his real coins??

It does raise that possibility... Or perhaps a prior owner of the coins did the casting and then unloaded the originals, purposefully or not.

Some people make casts/molds for perfectly innocent reasons though :).

Edited September 10, 2024 by TIF

[Harry G]

Thanks for the replies, everyone! To answer a few questions:

1 hour ago, Limes said:

Score of the year, maybe even decade. Fantastic find! 

You should check out the reverse of Severus alexander. They look strange. The geen spots are either deposits maybe corrosion on a copper core. 

In hand, it looks like that is on the surface of the coins (rather than going inside!). I assume it was from a bronze coin it was placed next to corroding after it was buried 

 

1 hour ago, Parthicus said:

A great find, congrats!  But why did the seller say they were just silver-plated reproductions?

No idea. I can only assume some clueless person told them they were fake, or the seller just assumed that nothing supposed to be 2000 years old can be genuine!

 

3 hours ago, Ryro said:

What is all of the white stuff covering various areas of many of the coins? Ie, it is below Ant Pius chin and in his ear or on the reverse of Faustina II.

 

2 hours ago, TIF said:

I wonder if is plaster or jeweler's investment, from making a mold/impression of the coin.  I've seen that a few times.

 

40 minutes ago, Ryro said:

At first I thought it was to cover up areas of concern. But now I wonder if the seller was casting fakes and accidently sent his real coins??

 

37 minutes ago, TIF said:

It does raise that possibility... Or perhaps a prior owner of the coins did the casting and then unloaded the originals, purposefully or not.

Some people make casts/molds for perfectly innocent reasons though :).

That puzzled me too. I assumed it was something like ren wax put on poorly (so there were globs of it left on the coin). However, I've had a poke at it and I can say with some certainly that it is... traces of blu tack!

(I just removed it from all the coins lol)

I'm guessing it was from making an imprint of the coin for some reason

[TIF]

3 minutes ago, Harry G said:

That puzzled me too. I assumed it was something like ren wax put on poorly (so there were globs of it left on the coin). However, I've had a poke at it and I can say with some certainly that it is... traces of blu tack!

Hmm, interesting.  Another possibility is that they used a bit of Blu Tack to position the coins for photos.  

Edited September 10, 2024 by TIF

[Ocatarinetabellatchitchix]

When your business name is flowerantiques, maybe you better not sale ancient coins !

 

[Harry G]

13 minutes ago, Ocatarinetabellatchitchix said:

When your business name is flowerantiques, maybe you better not sale ancient coins !

 

Well found! I'm guessing I won't be the only one to checking their future listings then lol

[MrMonkeySwag96]

That Julia Soaemias has a pretty portrait!

[Molag Bal]

Wow nice score. 

[JayAg47]

That's a ripper deal! I especially like the Hadrian with crescent reverse. 

[Romismatist]

Amazing deal. Those all look perfectly genuine to me. Wow. A deal that incredible doesn't come along every day!

[Original Skin Coins]

Great find and well worth the gamble! That Antoninus Pius temple is my fave of the lot, but the Marcus Aurelius Concordia is very nice as well.