Weiss: Coin Dealer breaks Silence - Questions Verdict

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Ahh, at last a dugupcoindealer breaks the silence. Alfredo De La Fe ('Arnold Weiss Convicted and Coins Condemned, but is the Test Used Reliable?') breaks the silence and speaks up for fellow coin dealers:

Back in the late 80′s/early 90′s there was a pretty big controversy concerning a large “hoard” of silver diobols from Apollonia Pontika and Mesembria, known as the “Black Sea Hoard”.  These coins were condemned as fake at one point only to be declared authentic after a similar examination as the coins in this case. To quote:

“The scientific defender of authenticity, Dr. Stanley Flegler of Michigan State University, has conducted a series of tests using the Scanning Electron Microscope [SEM] as well as other techniques of evaluation. Flegler claims that the results of his tests conclusively prove that the hoard coins are not modern counterfeits. This conclusion is based on several points which include corrosion analysis and radiation analysis of trace elements.”

(For a complete discussion of the Black Sea Hoard you can go here and here.) Long story short, the Black Sea Hoard coins were ultimately proven to be fake when they were found being sold in large groups in a museum in Bulgaria as modern reproductions.   So, SEM is not infallible and I would be very interested to see the report of the analysis of the coins in the Weiss case.  Who did the test?  On what basis were they condemned?

It is nice to see one point on which De La Fe and I are in agreement. When the investigations are over, we need to see that report. But... I do not think the investigations are yet over. I suspect this is just the beginning. As an early Celator article on the topic of the Black Sea Hoard concluded:

"It is unlikely that the controversy surrounding these coins will be solved until the truth of their provenience is known".

and I sincerely hope that this is just one of the aspects that the US authorities will now be examining. I am mindful of what the generally-accurately informed Rick St Hilaire writes:

It should be noted that there is no request or court order to destroy the Weiss coins that were discovered to be fakes.  Meanwhile, sources indicate that the investigation in this case is of a continuing nature.

See also Larry Rothfield's "The Weiss Case: another shoe still to drop?" 5th July 2012.

 But wait a second, does the above mean that De La Fe believes the three Cabinet W coins are not fake? Or just that he'd like his clients not to get worried that the freshly-surfaced coins his fellow dealers are trying to sell might also be good fakes?