Oops, I shouldn't have taken my wallet

So I went shopping for flips and album pages at a local dealer and I walked out with this, and I forgot to purchase the flips. I'm sitting in my car, so sorry about the low quality pics? How much is a fair price for this? Not too late to back out, I suppose. And this might seem silly, but what year was it from and who is the old man holding the parrot on the back of the coin? I would have asked the dealer if I wasn't so busy racing to pull my debit card out of my wallet.

I'm afraid to even walk back into the shop to pick up the flips. He had an Antonius Pius coin I almost bought, and if I go back I may buy it too. So much for my budget. I might be done buying coins after today until January, because I've shot 2 months worth of coin budget over the last 10 days.

EDITED TO REPLACE BAD FIRST PHOTOS WITH BETTER PHOTOS FROM LATER IN THE DAY.

 

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Go on, get the AP (and don't forget the flips)

 

It's not a parrot!

lol, jk, it's an eagle being held by Zeus.

 

Posts like these make me wish I had a local dealer with ancients. Unfortunately south FL seems to be sorely lacking. It might just be for the best actually, otherwise I would probably have gone broke a long time ago

 

I've only been collecting ancient coins for 3 days, and this is only the third ancient coin I ever buy. So please excuse my ignorance. I was not planning on buying anything but flips, so this is my first accidental Greek coin purchase.

I still don't know what happened, I saw this coin and next thing I know my debit card is accidentally coming out of my wallet and I'm walking out of the coin store without the items that I went there to purchase in the first place.

 

It's one of these
http://cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=285338

SELEUKID KINGS of SYRIA. Seleukos I Nikator. 312-281 BC. AR Tetradrachm . In the name and types of Alexander III of Macedon. Babylon I mint. Struck circa 311-300 BC. Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin / Zeus Aëtophoros seated left; monogram in wreath in left field, H below throne. SC 82.6; Price 3704; HGC 9, 10f.

 

Looking at the price that one sold for, looks like I hit it right on the money. I paid a little less than that. The coin looks really nice, much nicer than my quick photos in the car make it seem.

 

I will just say this is an excellent coin. Remember, the coin that sold at CNG does not reflect shipping or auction fees. So, I think you did fine. Just a cautionary note: you may want to slow down a bit before they come to repossess your car and home.

 

You should know that Alex III tets are probably the most counterfeited coins among ancients. Can you give us the weight and diameter? I'm not accusing it of being a forgery, but as a general rule, I would not recommend newbies buying these coins from dealers that aren't well-versed in vetting their authenticity.

 

Yeah, I'm imposing an embargo on coin purchases through January. I've gone a little too far.

 

Nice first ancient. You did good!

 

Yep, the "wagon" for you.

 

When you can, please post better photos of the coin removed from the flip.
Here is mine from the Babylon mint (same as your coin's mint).


Your coin has a nice Babylon monogram to the left of Zeus & Zeus' hand is raised below head level. These are indicative of a Babylon mint coin. The throne is the Babylon mint style but I am not certain of the H beneath it. [The H must be cool because it is also on the CNG coin]. The lion mane is the Babylon curved style mane. I am just parroting some things that I learned from Tenacious when I posted my Babylon coin.

 

The dealer I bought this from has a very large selection of ancient coins and apparently has a very good reputation judging by all the reviews of his shop I found. While I still don't know much about ancient, I can tell you for a fact this coin does not have any of the tell-tale signs you would find in a casted coin or any other such forgery

 

My Tetradrachm is from the same time period in Babylon also


I like the high relief on it

 

Neither do I see any signs of casting, but the color of the metal is weird - more like tin than silver, but could be the pics. If you could take images out of the flip and provide weight in grams and diameter in millimeters, that would be helpful.

 

Much better! Looking good.

 

The others were rough shots I took in a hurry. These are more carefully done. Looks good?

 

Looks like a sweet deal...and I see nothing to suggest it isn't genuine, but I've been wrong more times than I'd like to admit...Getting the coin bug means pushing the budget a bit too much...but damn, it's fun!!

That's a wonderful example!!! About as 'high relief' as I've ever seen!

A EF+ Tet is high on my list---replacing one I owned years ago

Congrats all!!!