When it comes to scams and fraudulent pieces the art world is absolutely full of them and that is down to the high value which many of the fraudsters can make. These men and women who create fake art pieces also understand that there is a lot of demand for pieces, which means that they can create things like coins and ancient artifacts, confident that they will be able to make some cash from doing so.
Something else which these fraudsters know is that whilst they will like get caught out if they are recreating famous pieces, they can look for lower value pieces and get away with it for much longer. We spoke to a couple of experts at the Sadigh Gallery in New York, to find out how you can avoid buying fakes when you are looking for antique coins.
Where to Shop
If you are shopping online then only buy items which are low price, anything that is expensive should be seen in person first, unless you are buying from a reputable dealer. There is very little guarantee that you can find if you are shopping online and there is very little protection that you are going to get.
Weight and Details
Doing your research is going to be absolutely essential to making sure that you avoid any scams and they key components of your research will be to check on all of the details surrounding the coin. You should know what it is made of, what the dimensions of the coin should be and of course all of the details which you should expect to see marked on the coin. If you fail to do this research before hand then you are going to find that you can become an easy to fool victim as those who create the fakes love someone who doesn’t know what they are looking for. Another thing to make sure that you check is the weight of the coin. More often than not they will use a different metal than the original and of course this will show when the piece is weighed on a scale.
Aging Process
Depending on what kind of coin it is and what it is made of, the aging process will usually follow a certain path in terms of how the metal discolors and what happens to the shape of the coin over time. This again is something which you should be anticipating when you touch and see the coin, and with just a small amount of research you will be able to discover what exactly you should be looking for.
The key to all of this is doing your homework and buying from a reputable seller. If you are buying things in a market place then it is going to be essential that you know every detail about the coin that you are looking for. If you haven’t done your homework however, you can expect to get caught out.