Duplicate entry: ancient denarius Constantius

I have the shrewd suspicion that the following two denarius coins of emperor Constantius are the same coin:
1. https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces27013.html
2. https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces22453.html

And probably this one, too:
3. https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces20009.html

I have added no. 2 myself, but only after I added it to the catalogue, I saw its similarity with no. 1.

Is there anyone in the crowd who can systematize the ancient Roman coins section? It's certainly not my piece of cake

Arno

No, they are not identical in two ways:
1. #2 looks much better,
2. and the reason is: it is a contemporary fake coin. It is manufactured in Dimitrovgrad or Haymanli, Bulgaria, where a series of workshops are specialized in making "museum copies", e.g. fake coins.

It seems a pity that you own #2 . I just hope you did not pay more than 3-5 USD for it!

Roman coinage is a mess on Numista, in addition to that, a significant amount of coin pictures show that people actually own A LOT OF FAKE coins from Rome.
If in doubt, you can always check here: http://www.forumancientcoins.com/fakes/index.php
a wonderful library of 11000+ ancient fakes. - with that Dr. Prokofyev is far away from covering the 50% of fakes of Roman coins

If you are into ROME, you need to be on the top, ... but it can be learnt .... probably the hard way (
and if you did that learning it turns profitable in many ways!

i.e. Did you know that Roman coinage has as many varieties as the entire World coinage from 1700-2000? It is a fascinating era!

I have just re-read my answer, and I have found that it is pretty demotivating.
That was not my intention.
Do go for ancient Rome, but be alert!
There are a lot of sources to help you on the way. One best is the qouted FORVM ancient coins, which guides you through real and fake.
Additionally you can learn more from this book on identifying fakes: http://www.amazon.com/Numismatic-Forgery-Charles-M-Larson/dp/0974237124/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337975718&sr=8-1
and this one is also helpful, before you jump into ROMA: http://www.amazon.com/Classical-Deception-Wayne-G-Sayles/dp/0873419685/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1337975718&sr=8-2

Surely you will you need a microscope (important) and good eyes, and a friend who can discuss, coach and train you in metallurgy methods in about 5 hours. Then you have all pleasures of the world:
SALVTE!

Hi Imre,

Thanks for your elaborate and sociable    reply. You didn't demotivate me at all from collecting Roman coins, but as said before - it's not my piece of cake. I have a pretty amateur attitude towards fakes: coins are faked to make money. Since even genuine Roman copper coins are often not very expensive, I always thought that there would not be a large market for fakes. But I was wrong

I was wrong in another aspect, too. I didn't add, nor do I own nr. 2, but rather nr. 4:
4. https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces30307.html

You're right that nr. 2 doesn't look authentic. Even me, with my amateur attitude, would be very suspicious on that one. I'm not sure whether nr. 4 is a copy, too. It's in my possession for almost 40 years. I got it from my grandmother but have no idea where she got it from (she will not have spent much on it, if anything).

The other day, I stumbled on www.calgarycoin.com. The site describes and illustrates in great detail which methods are used to counterfeit antique coins, and what traces each of these methods leaves behind. The 'pimple' on the lips of the effigy of my own coin (nr. 4) may indicate that it is a die cast.

Απόσπασμα: ArnoVIt's in my possession for almost 40 years. I got it from my grandmother but have no idea where she got it from (she will not have spent much on it, if anything).

The 'pimple' on the lips of the effigy of my own coin (nr. 4) may indicate that it is a die cast.

If you own it for 40 years at least, then at least it was not the Bulgarians who faked it.  

Seriously, I cannot judge it from the picture, this might as well be authentic. If you have a micrscope, try to examine the edge. Luckily you have a bunch of cracks in there, so look for microscopic layers on the planchet, if you have some, it is more than probably original. If you don't have them, it still can be original.