Clarification re coins & an ex Ukraine 'repaired' gold Constantius coin, sold at Roma Numismatics, London
First photo is after 'repairs' when it was sold in 2022, and second photo when it was in Ukraine (it appears to have left Ukraine roughly a year or 18 months before the auction) ... to me the loop and additions imply that whilst this coin was minted in Antioch at the end of the 3rd century, it was 'adapted' during the Migration Period, probably along the north shore of the Black Sea, for example somewhere like the Crimean peninsula. During its brief time in a 'North European collection' it was substantially recarved and 'upgraded' too.
https://www.numisforums.com/topic/1236-holed-patched-suspended-and-repaired-marti-propvgnatori-festaureus/
&
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/another-holed-and-repaired-ukranian-coin-constantius.385971/
I'm not sure whether Richard Beale is in prison, but he pled guilty, as did Italo Vecchi, and Roma Numismatics has closed down.
My guess is that 'Heliodromus' probably isn't a coin dealer, because he's interested in the coins and can differentiate them. Most coin dealers boast about how 'nobody' can tell the difference between coins, just because they can't. I can.
The cousin of a dealer currently trying to drum up publicity tried to involve me in his sale of an even bigger Tetrarchic gold medallion. It was a fake, but he's supposedly one of the most knowledgeable ancient dealers. He not only can't tell a real coin from a fake but also can't tell two coins apart. That's how bad much of the field is (and don't even get me started on glyptics dealers). That's also why he reports rivals to law enforcement, to 'burn' their material so that he can buy it for his clients for less. (He's a younger version of CNG's Peter Weiss, but with less knowledge, thinks he is charming, and follows through on more threats).
I saw the gold Eid when it was back in Greece. Most people knew the 'provenance' was wrong. I possibly shouldn't admit this, but I could easily have faked a really good and far longer provenance, except for one minor problem: I'm not crooked.
I posted very few coins on the old Loot Busters website, and will post very few on this version, simply because most of the photos aren't good enough quality to be able to tell the coins apart.
Richard Beale, I understand, has also admitted to being involved with the dispersal of Alexander the Great decadrachms from a Gaza hoard. There's an even larger hoard, said to be of some 30,000+ coins, that's been hitting the market in recent years, and that's why the price of silver coins with images of Alexander the Great and of Athenian owls has been plummeting. Dead cats may bounce, but silver owls don't.
Before Bruce McNall smuggled two large hoards out of Turkey, Hecatomnid coins were rare. Luckily the American Numismatic Society published both hoards, so if Turkey ever wants to claim them it will be extremely easy to identify them. If you own a Hecatomnid coin that does not have a provenance before 1970, it's probably from one of those hoards.
We will get around to coins eventually, but not the ones with fuzzy out of focus photos, and it will take more time.
Meanwhile, I will refer people to another numismatic forum post, where someone asked why were the coins in an auction listed as "not suitable for US import" nor for Germany: https://www.numisforums.com/topic/6312-latest-roma-auction-many-items-listed-not-suitable-for-us-import/