SB 2401 Basilikon of Andronikos II and Michael IX

Stacks Bowers ANA August 2016 sale, lot 20192. 1.53 grams.

Sear 2401 DO V: --

This entire series has too many examples of the exact same die pairings to remain non suspicious. The fact that all share near identical centering raises eyebrows, not to mention the unusual style. All examples have suspiciously similar flan styles yet significant weight differences. The Christ Pantokrator obverse is nearing impossibility in terms of die execution and the reverse is hardly better. As a long time collector of this era who is well versed in the field, these are fake in my opinion. The fact that no casts exist point towards struck fakes with carved dies, certainly the hardest to detect. Yet, all of the above factors and similarities to a proliferation of other late byzantine fakes at Nomos and CNG of the same style allow us to conclude these as such. Certainly, they were faked by the same maker. As a collector, stay away from these dies. I suspect the further proof about them being fakes will come out sooner rather than later, if the above were not enough for you to conclude these as fakes.