Websites About Fakes

I have provided the following links to other websites infomation information on fakes of ancient coins. I did not write these sites assume no responsibility for their accuracy, but I have looked at each of them and would not have listed them if I felt they were providing false information.

Counterfeits & Forgeries of Parthian Coins. This site about fakes and forgeries of Parthian coins was compiled by Chris Hopkins. Some of these are deceptive and worth a look. This is just one feature of a larger site that is the best site about Parthian coins.

On Line Liquidators also known as "THE TORONTO GROUP" used many different eBay Id's and plagued eBay with fake ancient coins for about three years. This site records their known eBay Id's and shows images of many of their known fakes. The fakes were low quality castings often molded from Slavey fakes. I don't believe they are still active but they peddled a lot of fakes quickly, some of which are still showing up in the secondary market

Parion Hemidrachm fakes This page by Reid Goldsborough, as preserved in the web archive (wayback machine), is is about the flood of fake Parion Hemidrachms which came on the market about 2010. The website discusses both fake and genuine examples to help you sort out the difference.

Apollonia Pontika Drachms And the "New York Hoard" of Counterfeits A few years ago a large group of fake Apollonia Pontika Drachms first appeared New York coin show. This page by Reid Goldsborough and preserved in the web archive, documents some known false dies, and provides help understanding what is wrong with them. He also has a page illustrating genuine examples for comparison via a link near the bottom labeled "Back to Apollonia Pontika drachms".

Modern Forgeries in Uncleaned Lots If you think buying your ancient coins in uncleaned lots will keep you safe from forgeries, think again. This page by Bob Bischoff documents many types of fake coins he found salted into uncleaned lots. They are obviously fake once the dirt is washed off.

The Selinos Fakes Some years ago an eBay seller using the ID Selinos posted a number of fakes for sale. I believe he may have believed they were genuine as most of his coins were authentic. Someone made these fakes and it is unlikely he did not make many of them. At my suggestion, Tom Ross built this page to record them, some of which are fairly convincing and if subjected to artificial wear and patina might be more so.

Ancient Info has provided this very useful site that documents some known fakes. This is some duplication with the site above, but there are others so well worth looking at.

Classical Coin Black Museum illustrating a number of Bulgarian fakes, some side by side with a genuine example for comparison.

David Sears Ancient Coin Authentication Service David Sear is the author of a number of very good books about ancient coins, and runs the most widely accepted authentication service for such coins. You will find all the details on his website.

Forum Ancient Coins Examples of fake coins, plus a discussion group. You will need to create a free account to use the site.

Forgery network A database for forged items including coins. Has a sign in page but you can use it without an account.

Tantalus Coins A listed of some fake late Roman coins.

CoinVac A database of several thousand fakes, mostly sold on eBay over the years.

If you know of other pages that should be included here, please let me know.

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