Fausse Probus Calliope chez Savoca

Un autre faux Calliope Probus est apparu récemment à la vente aux enchères de Savoca :

https://www.biddr.ch/auctions/savoca/browse?a=809&l=847334

Je leur ai dit que c'était un faux. Educatif ci-dessous est le contenu de mon avertissement envoyé à Savoca, avec une poignée d'informations sur le vrai Calliope :

"I am writing to you in order to notify you that the below coin at your nearest silver auction:

https://www.biddr.ch/auctions/savoca/browse?a=809&l=847334

is an obvious modern forgery to the detriment of collectors.

It is highly misleading to state that the coin was only “tooled”. By the looks of the obverse this appears to have been originally a genuine Probus coin from the 7th emission but originally with a completely different reverse (most likely SALVS AVG with Salvs standing) which has been fraudently reengraved to the extremely rare and desirable Calliope Aug reverse.

In other words, the coin at your sale has never been a genuine Calliope! The style of this reengraved “calliope” reverse coin is horrible and has nothing in common with the original Calliope Avg reverse, for which there is only one REVERSE DIE known and a total of only 7 genuine specimens in the world known.

Five specimens are in private collections:

https://probuscoins.fr/search?atelierID=-1&dateID=-1&titulatureID=-1&legendeID=21&reversType=-1&emission=-1&officineID=-1&busteID=-1&ric=-1&bastien=-1&mpr=-1&ho=-1&rarityID=-1&id=&keywords=

including in my own collection (ex Numismatik Lanz 159, Lot 573):

https://probuscoins.fr/coin?id=1812

The last two additional specimens - cited by Alfoldi under no. 14 in his book Siscia. V. Probus sisciai antoninianusai. „Numizmatikai Közlöny” 36-37:1937-1938 - are in public collections: in the Museo Nazionale in Rome (from the F. Gnecchi collection) and University of Belgrade (from the W. Weifert collection).

Recently, Numismatica Ars Classica offered a different fake Calliope but after my intervention they quickly withdrew it from auction:

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=4955137

Therefore, I sincerely hope that you will also quickly remove this fake coin from your auction. A reputable auction house such as Savoca (where I have bought numerous Probus coins in the past) should not offer such forgeries at their auctions.  

In case you want to learn more about the coinage of Probus or wonder as to my credentials please visit the Probvs.net web page  https://probvs.net/probvs/ of which I am the co-author. This is by far the most comprehensive web page about the coinage of Probus in the world."


Dans un premier temps, ils ont répondu à cette question :

"thank you very much for the information about this coin.
We will forward your email to our descriptor and and they will check the coin again and your information".

Après ma prochaine réprimande:

Dear Madam,

I see that the fake Calliope has still not been removed from your auction. Has your descriptor had a chance to “check the coin again and my information”?

This coin is an obvious forgery to any true Probus specialist, so I am a little surprised that a reputable auction house such as Savoca needs so much time to verify the information which I gave you. If you really still have any doubts than I suggest you consult Professor Sylviane Estiot – the world’s leading expert on the late III century coinage, especially the coinage of Probus:

https://univ-lyon2.academia.edu/SylvianeEstiot

sylviane.estiot@gmail.com

For your information, I will mark this coin as a forgery on the https://probvs.net/ web site as well as on all of the forums on which I am active. The only questions remains is whether or not I will be forced to additionally comment the fact that you decided not remove the forgery despite being warned (I hope it won’t come to this).


ils m'ont envoyé une courte réponse :

"We have forwarded your email to our Describers, but our Describers would like to discuss it with our boss, who is unfortunately ill the last days and today not in the office. We will discuss it on Monday and let you know.
We apologize very much for the inconvenience".

À la fin, ils ne m'ont plus jamais reparlé et n'ont plus retiré la pièce de la vente aux enchères.

Je les ai avertis que s'ils ne réagissaient pas, je décrirais la pièce et toute la situation dans tous les forums où j'ai parlé, ce que je fais ici.

Je suis outré, mais s'il vous plaît, tirez vos propres conclusions de cette histoire !

D'ailleurs, heureusement, le faux en question n'a pas été vendu, ce qui ne fait que confirmer mes premiers avertissements. Une pièce Probus Calliope authentique en très bon état aurait facilement rapporté 4 500 à 9 000 euros. Le fait que personne n'ait voulu acheter la pièce pour le prix de départ de 1.000 EUR parle de lui-même !

Si tu savais le nombre de fausses monnaies grecques que je signale par des mails qui restent le plus souvent lettres mortes .


J'en viens vraiment à me demander s'il faut continuer à les signaler... Un collectionneur un tant soit peu informé doit pouvoir faire le tri.

T'as déjà posté le même sujet non ?

Joss a écrit:

T'as déjà posté le même sujet non ?

Oui, j'ai mis le même poste en deux sections (sur les faux et les vendeurs indelicats, car il couvre ces deux sujets).

Peut-être vaut-il la peine pour l'administrateur de fusionner les deux fils de discussion ?