Ancient coins are copied for a number of reasons, selling as souvenirs in museums and tokens in online venues like Etsy, eBay or Amazon. They are also frequently counterfeit, preying on bidders who lack knowledge of ancient numismatics.
As such, these are among the most risky to bid on in HiBid, Proxibid, LiveAuctions and similar platforms.
I won this fake Aegina drachm with a bid of $35 from a HiBid seller who described it as authentic. The description did not include weight. These coins typically sell for hundreds of dollars.
When I received the token, I could tell it was cast rather than struck by inspecting the rim and surface. I used my coin microscope to get a closer look at the casting. Notice the fine bubbles rather than struck silver imprints.
Here is an authentic drachm, ca 350-338 BC, 18.5 mm, 5.81 g.
My token was underweight at 17 mm, 5.7 g. Worse, it was base metal. Look at the rim of the token in this photo, and you can see why this is a counterfeit rather than an ancient coin. The rim is smooth rather than rounded.
Granted, my fake drachm had the right inscriptions and devices, a tortoise with a segmented shell on the obverse and an incuse pattern with N-I in the upper sections and a dolphin swimming in the lower left section. But my fake’s devices had the mushy look of the casting.
My advice is to learn all you can about ancient coins by purchasing guidebooks or visiting educational sites like Proxiblog. Better still, even with that knowledge, often it is difficult to detect counterfeit Greek and Roman coins based on seller photos alone. You need a lupe and the coin in your hand to be sure. So go to established auction sites like GreatCollections or Heritage to buy holdered coins.
Here’s a turtle stater, Isle of Aegina c.525-480 B.C., 12.09 g, that I won in a GreatCollections auction for $591 realized price.
It’s in my bank box with a few other ancient coins.
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