I've always loved byzantine art and jewelry and for a long time I've wanted a gold byzantine coin, I would also love an early venetian gold coin. The cup coins look cool but I think I'd prefer a regular coin Has anyone here ever owned coins from this period? Are there any obvious pitfalls I should avoid? Are they faked very often? I'd really like a Justinian but I think that might be expensive. Any tips on where to find good info would be super helpful. Thanks
Byzantine coins are very cheap compared to your standard Roman coins, Justinian especially so (he had to mint massive amounts of coins to pay for his wars). Like all coins they are faked but not to the same degree as Greek or Roman coins. The bronze coins normally quite large but crude, the gold coins can be very nice and very, very common (think of them as the US dollar of their time). I like the silver coins as the are often better struck and much rarer then the bronze and gold coins. Cup coins can be well struck or very crude, all are a pain to display in an album though. Venetian gold coins took over where the byzantine coins left off and are also very common, some of the large silver issues are quite nice. You can get nice gold Byzantine/ Venetian gold coins for 400 -500 dollars.
I only have one of the cupped coins and it is so well struck I think it must be a modern representation. I have a couple of the copper venetian coins, they are nice too. Not aware of any fakes first hand but I am sure there must be some, not that it is a market that would be worth exploiting with mass produced rares. The worst I have see are 'repaired' coins, with damage, holes and cracks filled in and even some lost details 'restored'. Not sure what they use but it dissolves in acetone. http://www.articlesbase.com/collect...paired-coins-and-recolored-coins-4836283.html
