False:

http://cgi.ebay.com/IMPERIAL-RUSSIA-IOANE-...1QQcmdZViewItem

This one is interesting as it appears to be cast rather than die struck so there may be a genuine original in existence.

RWJ

I don't know if it is cast, but if it is, then the original is also a fake.

A comparison with known genuine examples is all that is necessary. The style of the ebay coin is all wrong.

Here is the ebay coin:


Now compare the ebay coin with this scan of the 3 Ioann III Moscow roubles shown in the Grand Duke's corpus:


A genuine example of this coin in such condition would be worth MUCH more than the US $375.00 the seller asks (with no reserve!) as an opening bid for this crude forgery.

Cannot tell whether it is a cast or stamped fake from the photographs. However, it is possible to produce cast fakes with no original. A model is engraved in wax. Then, first casting is made. Then a rubber or a silicon mold/form is produced from that casting.

My comment about being this piece being cast is from having seen other other examples with the same minor planchet flaws. The casting is therefore not certain but likely.

It is quite possible in this case that the "original" coins were die-struck but that the dies failed and the forgers used one of the struck pieces for casting purposes.

RWJ

Well, no matter whether cast or stamped, the design is so ugly that even the Moscow engravers of 1741 would be eshamed to turn this one out There are much more dangerous fakes around, like the SPB with an edge inscription I almost bought on eBay 3 years ago... I got lucky -- I was overbid and the lucky purchaser had to return the item.