Thracian tetradrachms
Bulgarian School Forgeries

	What follows are 13 forgeries of Thracian (barbarous Thasos) tetradrachms made in Bulgaria and sold as authentic coins on eBay by the same seller from Bulgaria. At least a dozen other forgery scammers from Bulgaria have sold multiple fakes of this one coin type on eBay in recent years, typically selling out of Bulgaria or Germany. Bulgaria is the center of ancient coin forgery in the world today, with forgery workshops operating openly. The Bulgarian scammer selling these forgeries also sells forgeries of many other types of ancient coins as well as ancient artifacts. He began operating on eBay in 2006. Other ancient coin and artifact forgery scammers have been operating on eBay for even longer, selling thousands of forgeries, the same ones over and over, cheating many thousands of people. eBay is fertile ground for such criminal activity, with its hands-off policies, its not hiring enough people to read the alerts that people send it about counterfeit scams being perpetuated through it, and its recently preventing the eBay community from contacting bidders to warn them about scams in progress. Anything that can be counterfeited is sold through eBay -- coins, antiquities, fossils, computer software, music CDs, movie DVDs, books, paintings, clothes, sneakers, jewelry, watches, handbags, toys, sporting goods, film, and so on. With its huge selection and low transaction costs, eBay can still be a great way to buy ancient coins and many other items. But with anything that can be counterfeited, it's good policy to buy only from eBay sellers you know or that have been recommended by a reliable source. Don't rely on eBay's feedback system, because most unwitting buyers of forgeries leave positive feedback immediately after the auction because they received the item. Just as they don't spot the forgery from its online image, they don't spot it in hand, and if they find out they've been scammed, they typically find out later after someone more knowledgeable looks at it. In the Bulgarian style, the pieces below all appear to be originally engraved and then minted with a hydraulic press. According to the seller, they weigh 16.4g to 17.2g, which puts them in the correct weight range, though slightly on the high side. They appear to be made of good silver. The flan cracks, simulated wear and scratches, and different types of artificial toning all appear convincing. What gives them away is the source they come from and their flamboyant "Bulgarian School" styling. The danger arises because authentic ancient Thracian tetradrachms can also exhibit exuberant abstract styling. Ilya Prokopov in his 2003 book Modern Counterfeits and Replicas of Ancient Greek and Roman Coins from Bulgaria illustrates 77 different fakes of this type, fakes that copy Thracian tetradrachms. Some of these 77 fakes share the same obverse or reverse die, but most of the 154 dies are different, which represents a staggering number of fake dies. Five of the 26 dies illustrated below are among the dies illustrated by Prokopov, meaning that 21 of the dies below are yet more original fake dies. All this belies the notion that it's difficult or time-consuming for modern forgers to produce new dies. Many of these dies, the ones below as well as the ones in Prokopov, differ from one another only slightly, which suggests the forgery workshop behind these, which Prokopov gives the code name "Sofia 1," reworks dies between strikings. I haven't seen most of these forgeries in hand. If you have any, please let me know.
	Obverse of Prokopov 89		Reverse of Prokopov 67
	Unlisted in Prokopov		Reverse of Prokopov 35 and 36
	Unlisted in Prokopov		Unlisted in Prokopov
	Unlisted in Prokopov		Unlisted in Prokopov
	Unlisted in Prokopov		Unlisted in Prokopov
	Unlisted in Prokopov		Unlisted in Prokopov
	Unlisted in Prokopov		Unlisted in Prokopov
	Unlisted in Prokopov		Reverse of Prokopov 28
	Unlisted in Prokopov		Unlisted in Prokopov
	Unlisted in Prokopov		Unlisted in Prokopov
	Unlisted in Prokopov		Unlisted in Prokopov
	Unlisted in Prokopov		Unlisted in Prokopov
	Unlisted in Prokopov		Reverse of Prokopov 82

Thracian Tetradrachms

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Morph

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