I am not exactly sure what this coin is but I assume it to be ancient if it is in fact real. The person selling it did a silver test and it is silver. I would like to know what it is, where its from and what it is worth. Thank you for viewing and responses in advance.
The coin is a silver drachm of the Sasanian Empire. Each ruler had somewhat distinctive crowns so it is possible to ID them without resorting to reading the legends. The photo is not making the ID clear to me but I don't know if that means the coin is unusual or the photo is just that unclear. This page will help ID it if you put in the time to search all those possibilities. http://www.grifterrec.com/coins/sasania/sasanian.html I do note that the portrait lacks wings or a large crescent on the crown so you will be able to eliminate options with those. Some Sasanian kings issued coins from 40 or so mints placing a mintmark on the reverse right so you can try to read that after you have found the king. I am not at all good with these. Good luck.
Thanks for the link very helpful. Do you think this coin may be a replica ? Comparing it to the others in the site it seems to be too shiny and not very well struck. Any more information is helpful.
Looks authentic. Its shiny since it was cleaned after it was unearthed. Definitely late Sassanid, but not very late like Khusro II. I am thinking Hormizd IV or Khusro I myself. NOt a bad coin except for those dark marks on the reverse. I hope that isn't where the silver test was done, since if it is they just damaged the coin. If identified, I would say $40, since it is nicer looking than many of these go.
I never say a coin is definitely good from a photo. This one looks believable to me but has been butchered. Value depends on ID and condition. In this scrubbed condition, a common ruler strikes me as $10.
it's probably in here somewhere.... http://www.grifterrec.com/coins/sasania/sasanian.html i really like thos sasanian coins!
Butchered and scrubbed? I do not see that at all. I see a better than average late 5th to mid 6th century sassanid. Find me any of these for $10 and i will take 100, and some of you know i am not kidding. Well over 80% that i see are worst than this. I have to disagree with you on this one Doug. Edit: btw the strongest evidence this is authentic is the flan. The slight plane angle change nearer the edges are indicative of an authentic flan for these. That is even stronger evidence to me than the dies.
Thanks for the responses. The dealer was kind enough to let me take a picture and do research on it to find a fair price. I had originally offered him 20 dollars and it seems like I don't want to stray to far from that price. He was not very knowledgable but for some reason was hoping on getting 100 dollars for it. I need to return to his pawn shop with good evidence of its value in order to get a fair price. After doin some research of my own it really seems like a khusro I. So I guess I can compare it to like coins. Like I mentioned earlier this is a real silver coin so at the least I would be more than happy paying 20 and taking the chance on this coin. I guess I can go as high as $40 but even that might not be enough for him as it seems he may have overpaid himself. I've found other decent deals at this shop paying melt value for low quality silver coins and early American coinage including 10 dollar for a worn 1810 large cent.
I agree with this point. Where we differ is how much a coin is devalued by poor surfaces. This one appears polished with remnants of black that, I assumed, once covered the whole coin. The coin has good detail and only minor reverse flatness so the question is whether the surface appearance is a function of the coin or of the photo. That would be a difference of $10 or $50 to me. I am still bothered by not being able to ID the coin with certainty. If close examination in hand shows no fine scratching from polishing and if the two tone color of the coin is exaggerated in the photo, $40 might be right. If the close exam looks buffed with micro lines of polish, I would avoid the coin simply because I find that a greater problem than most people do. I do not see $100. There are a lot of common coins. Perfect specimens sell for a lot more than things the US graders would 'brown bag'. The question is how much more.
We agree more than I thought then. I wasn't seeing any kind of scratching, just a newly cleaned late Sassanid with good details and a little better than average style. Not the best style, but better than average. I do not see $100 in this coin either. For a late Sassanid to be $100, it has to be after Khusro II, come along with interesting hepthalite countermarks, or be that one year usurper. I have paid $60 for a Khusro II before, but that was a superlative condition, excellent style, with very pretty rainbow toning, and even then I worried if I overpaid.
This might be a disagreement. Rainbow toning is generally a sign of natural processes in the last century or chemical enhancements in the last year or so. That makes it fine for a Morgan dollar and not natural for a 1500 year old coin. I prefer gray but that is again a matter of preference. Compare this Hormazd IV (common), clear mint and date (WYH 12), flat spots on reverse (can't win them all), smooth surfaces and $23 a year and a half ago. Note it also shows textbook "edge plane angle changes". We still need to ID the OP coin and that would suggest a better photo. How much do you discount the value of a coin that is not clearly identifiable? Khusro II is a special case when it comes to price. Just about anything is worth more so we can be picky about grade for K2. Some mints are not as well struck or well styled as others. Do we expect to pay less for a mint with distinctively poor style or do we say that it is typical for that mint and should not be held against a coin? This is all part of the philosophy of collecting. Ugly is in the eye of the collector.
I disagree about the toning. Heck, I have put a freshly cleaned, (freshly dug), Parthian silver in a manila envelope for a couple of years, (to be honest left it in the envelope and forgot I owned it), and it came out with toning. Freshly cleaned silver behaves very similarly to freshly minted silver. Remove the horn silver and get down to bare metal, and the silver now exposed to air will tone all over again. Heck, if I owned the OP's coin I would be half tempted to do this on purpose to "tone down" the bright shiny silver appearance. Look at all of the toned RR silvr coins Doug. You really do not think they are the result of chemicals do you? I have quite a few coins that I pulled out of 1950's era manila envelopes, (I kept many of them, from like Mystic stamp company), and all I have pulled out of these old manila's were toned.
Actually, I could be wrong but it appears its a Vahran VI, the scarce one year usurper. Anyone else want to confirm? If it is, it IS worth $100.
Yes. Is it a WYHC year two which makes it rare as well. Now who wants to pay the Pawn shop over $100? I'd love to see the coin or a good picture. Now that it is IDed, we have to reopen the possibility of it being a fake. I wouldn't worry about a common one but someone might be making these. Are you willing to take a chance on it? I'd say it is probably good but I'd not pay $100 based on that photo. I wish we could show it to Tom. http://www.grifterrec.com/coins/sasania/sas_varVI_1.html
Sorry I can not provide a better photo because it is still in the store. If I indeed buy it for a decent price I will provide more info but as of now I will not buy the coin for anything more than 40$. Will let you know how it goes.
Well. I purchased the coin for $45 along with an 1853P american half dime in G condition for $15 bucks making the total purchase $60. I would like to know how to determine whether or not this is a fake. I will try to provide a better photo but my camera phone is not exactly the best resolution available. Is it common for obverse and reverse to be off clockwise? The do not match each other perfectly. The mint seems to indeed be WYHC. I can tell by the marking under the ear. But I am not sure which one it is from that particular mint. I should probably get it weighed. I need to invest in a small scale. Although it is not the best struck coin my main concern is however, are the blotches of unknown material that seem strongly attached to the coin. Its Luster is also a concern to its authenticity considering it should be over 1600 years old. That being said and with my limited ancient coin experience, everything about the strike seems authentic. However, this is my first asian ancient. All other ancient coins in my modest collection are roman or english. I hope this doesn't seem like I am blabbing a bunch of nonsense. I am a bit excited about having possibly gotten such a good deal on a rare ancient coin. I just feel a bit helpless when it comes to determining its authenticity. My gut tells me its real but I have doubts. At the very least I know it is solid silver. The pawn shop owner tested it right in front of me with a chemical. Anyway, I would appreciate any comments or questions concerning its authenticity. Thanks! Larry
I see no reason to be overly suspicious of the authenticity but the photo does not make it obviously good or bad. The easy answer is that the coin was harshly cleaned once having a lot more of those black patches. Certainly it could be a fake but that would require showing it in person to someone who knows more about such things than I do. I agree that a decade in a fume filled environment could make it a lot prettier but could still like to see a photo lighted to have less glare. That does not mean we would be able to be any more certain about the coin. At $45, I would call it a good purchase now that we have an ID. I am hard on coins I can't ID rather than assuming that they are genuine rarities. If you were to go on a quest for another specimen of the same ruler and date (all the coins I saw in photos were year one), I suspect it would take a while. If the coin is a fake, the maker got everything right as far as I can see. Most fakes would not have a correct style and believable mint/date unless they were copied from a genuine original by casting. This one does not look cast to me. I would not worry about it and suggest you enjoy the coin and the mysteries around it. One that bothers me is how something like this got to a Pawn shop. Did he have a collection, a hoard or was this the only ancient coin?
Thanks Doug. He has quite an eclectic group of coins including one other ancient tetradrachma, which as far as I can tell is a very nice example of the macedonian empire under alexander the great. He seems to beleive it is worth around 2-3 thousand dollars. Perhaps he will let me take a picture of that one as well to do some research. If I do get the opportunity I will post the picture in this forum. I would ask more questions about how he acquired them but often he just brushes me off and says "you know, customers". He does not seem to know to much about the things he sells other than their bullion value. Thanks for the help in this ID.
found out exactly what this sassanian coin is.. its a hormazd IV in the 9th year of his reign. i was told it is from the ardashir mint. does that sound like a better match?
