Thracian tetradrachms
Forgeries and Replicas

	“Skin Deep 1.” This is an ancient plated counterfeit, or fourree, specifically a silver-plated bronze contemporary forgery. The breaks in the plating near the edge between four and five o'clock on the obverse reveal it for what it is. The coin is in the correct weight range, with its thicker flan accounting for this. 16.6g, 33mm.
	"Skin Deep 2." Here's another fourree with broken plating, around 2 o'clock on the obverse. It reveals a green "eutectic" layer separating the silver from the bronze, then a bronze core. The coin is a tad light but close to the typical weight range, a deceptive ancient fake. This specimen is part of the collection of Dave Liebl. 14.1g, 35mm. Here are other pages of mine on Ancient Fourree Counterfeits.
	"Faker 1." Here's a superficially convincing modern struck counterfeit of a highly abstracted Thracian tetradrachm, with the obverse and reverse designs attractively styled. The weight is at the high end of the normal range. One diagnostic is the absence of evidence of cleaning, of the removal of encrustations or horn silver, as typically happens with authentic coins. There is evidence of artificial toning, with golden coloration in the coin's recesses, which can happen with coins stored in the air but doesn't happen with coins dug up out of the ground, as this coin allegedly was. The gray flan may consist of debased silver made from melted-down 19th and 18th century Turkish coins, according to one expert who has studied these fakes. 17.0g, 32mm.
	"Faker 2." This is the same type of fake as the above and appears to have originated from the same hand, though the fabric is somewhat different. The obverse has a realistic flan crack and in general is well done, with the design being artistically abstract. One observer looking at this page remarked that this and the previous coin lack a strong sense of composition and balance. Still, they're interesting pieces of numismatic deception. This particular forger is talented, though he's wasting his time on junk like this.
	"Faker 3." This forgery has uniform fields and dark, mottled, artificial-looking toning. Its surfaces appear to have been acid-treated to give them an old look. The styling is attractive and, with the wide diversity of authentic styling on Thracian tetradrachms, convincing enough. 16.6g, 32mm.
	"Toronto Faker." This is a lightweight cast fake, one of the forgeries of the notorious eBay Toronto Forger, who's sometimes known as the "Toronto Group," though there's no indication that more than one person was behind this scam. Like all of his fakes, this one is unconvincing in hand. Along with it being lightweight, its surfaces exhibit small casting pits, and the edges are marked by traces of a seam. The piece rings when you tap it with another coin, indicting a high silver content and that the silver is modern, not ancient. The artificial toning is well done, and with the small photos that the forger used, the nature of the piece isn't as obvious on screen as it is in hand. 11.4g, 32mm. The Toronto scammer operated on eBay for about four years, cheating perhaps 500 people out of $500,000, estimating conservatively. An ancient coin dealer from England was cheated with the forgery pictured above, one of nine he bought from the Toronto Forger before he discovered they were forgeries, a lesson that cost him 450 pounds ($860). A person from the Toronto, Canada, area, who also sometimes operated from a London, England, presence, put up on eBay several dozen cast fakes at a time with each round of his scam auctions, typically the same fakes each time, often but not always the same photos. He created more than forty rounds of scam auctions, using a different eBay I.D. each time. Nearly each time eBay canceled his I.D. (NARUs him, for Not a Registered User), after people knowledgeable about the scam complained, but almost always not until after the auctions were over and some percentage of people already paid. The Toronto scammer typically created three-day auctions so as to minimize the time people had to complain to eBay before the auctions closed. Near the end he also changed the category of his auctions from some other category to ancient coins within 24 hours before the auctions closed, also to avoid tipping off knowledgeable people in time for them to alert eBay. When it discovered a new round of scam auctions, eBay sends email to the people who "won" the auctions, but its intent was only to try to absolve itself of responsibility. The emails it sent contains the following language: "eBay is only a venue, and we cannot guarantee that sellers will complete transactions nor can we guarantee the delivery or quality of bought items." The scammer almost always created private auctions, meaning interested persons can't warn bidders. Despite the fact that this is against eBay rules, which are designed to protect the sellers who pay eBay its fees, the ability of bidders and other interested parties to warn one another is a key way bidders are protected from scams such as this. One lesson is that you should never bid on a private eBay auction unless you know the seller and know he has a good reason for keeping his auction private. It's also a good idea to ask around about any eBay seller you don't know. Don't expect eBay to protect you. It typically doesn't even read the emails it receives from people telling it that a seller is breaking eBay's own rules. Instead, it just sends back an automated response. You can find a catalog of the Toronto forgeries here.
	"Beirut Faker." This is a Beirut School forgery, frequently sold on eBay. The seller claims that he is a licensed antiquities dealer in Lebanon, but Lebanon does not license antiquities dealers. The seller in his auction descriptions includes this language: "Bid with confidence. We are in the antiquity business for more than 30 years. A letter of authenticity is accompanied for the lucky winning bidder." These fakes all have surfaces with the same scrubbed and artificially toned appearance.
	"Pot Metal." This is a fairly convincing cast counterfeit, likely made of pot metal, an alloy sometimes created by the actual melting of old pots. It can consist of tin, lead, and copper. This piece has no visible edge seam, and the casting pits are small. The toning is fake and has an odd maroon tint to it. 15.0g, 33mm.
	"Lead Boy." Here's an obvious cast counterfeit made from a seed coin of the same obverse variety as the above pot metal fake. This fake's indistinct details, pitted surfaces, and light weight give it away. From the feel of the metal, it's likely a lead alloy. 13.9g, 33mm.
	"Bronze Baby." This is an obvious tourist fake, made of bronze instead of silver and designed to fool tourists and other inexperienced buyers. Ancient coins of a similar obverse design from Maroneia were commonly struck in bronze, but not those from Thasos. The details of the coin's surfaces are soapy, not sharp, and casting bubbles are visible under magnification. The edges have been filed. 14.0g, 32mm.
	"Powder Puff." This is another tourist fake, a cast counterfeit of a Thasos tetradrachm. This piece has a soapy surface, indistinct details, pitted surfaces, and powdery fake toning, and though the correct size it's significantly underweight. It appears to be made of bronze. 10.7g, 32mm.
	"Mesh Mess." This cast fake has a strange mesh pattern over its surfaces that may have been caused by the use of a cloth over the molding material to prevent the original coin from sticking to it. The edges appear to have been filed to remove the seam. This lightweight fake is made of silver -- it rings when it's tapped. 11.0g, 32mm.
	"Sousek." This is an Antiquanova replica, made in the Czech Republic. The piece is pressed and consists of .999 fine silver. The "S" countermark on the reverse stands for Petr Sousek, the engraver. Antiquanova, along with the Bulgarian Slavey Petrov, makes the finest ancient coin replicas today. 17.2g, 33mm.
	"Clay Man." Here's a modern replica, made out of clay and intended for jewelry, as evidenced by the hole in the flan above Dionysos' head. It was made in Turkey by Bekircan Tahberer, who sells ceramic replicas of this and other ancient coins and jewelry made from them very inexpensively. 3.6g, 31mm.
					More forgeries...

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