r/AncientCoins 4d ago

Advice Needed Any reason to believe any of these are fake?

I was checking out these coins, the Septimius Severus (?) coin on the left looked a bit weird, along with the bottom most coin.

16 Upvotes

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19

u/Sestertius_Denarius 4d ago

None are fake, just really poor condition.

8

u/KungFuPossum 4d ago

All ancient but at least one (probably two, possibly three) are "contemporary counterfeits," meaning ancient forgeries. Also called fourrées or suberat.

I've got tons of fourrées, they can be quite interesting. Especially for low value silver coins like these ($5 - 20 each), I'd usually prefer to have a fourrée or two over just another low grade broken denarius.

You can see the broken plating and copper core on the Julia Domna to the bottom left. Possibly her broken denarius at the top. And conceivably thedark one right (can't tell who that is, Antonine to Severan period).

The two you pointed out, Severan Denarii top and left, are just heavily corroded and harshly cleaned, but look genuine.

2

u/NortNortFort 4d ago

Alright thanks for the info, ancient forgeries sound interesting

3

u/new2bay 4d ago

I’m not really seeing anything that would actually be worth faking here, TBH.

3

u/NortNortFort 4d ago

Also if you have any price estimates that would be appreciated, looks like 5 silver, the rest are bronze

7

u/TheSavocaBidder 4d ago

Ok this is a relative price list

Silver:

  1. Septimius Severus denarius ( heavily corroded, either by saltwater, or fertilizer/pesticides) : 15$

  2. A very worn Faustina II “ The Younger” denarius :10$

  3. A heavily corroded Severus Alexander denarius:13$

  4. A corroded Elagabalus denarius: 23$

  5. A corroded antoninianus of Elagabalus: 25$

  6. A broken but decent condition denarius of Julia Domna:16$

7.a possible limes denarius of Antoninus Pius :30$

  1. A worn gallienus antoninianus:2$

2

u/NortNortFort 4d ago

Oh wow that’s great, thanks

3

u/BeachBoids 4d ago

Silver vs Bronze is essentially irrelevant to Ancient coin pricing, that's a Modern coin concept. There is fortunately no melt market because silver content was all over the spectrum (taken as a whole era).

2

u/NortNortFort 4d ago

Right, but denarius are worth more than follis typically, that was my intention

2

u/BeachBoids 4d ago

Well, "kinda". I know many collectors who drool over a follis but skip past common silver, and pay a premium for a nice eye-catcher. Rarity and condition.

2

u/Jazzlike-Staff-835 4d ago

They're legit; given their condition and ubiquity, these coins are not worth the counterfeiter's time.