Corinth silver stater help

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I agree. It’s been in a drawer for years as I didn’t think it was anything special. I bought it pre internet and I found it the other day when I was cleaning and thought I would do some research on it. All I can say now, is that if it is fake, and I guess it probably is, it’s a pretty darn good one. To my untrained eye the edges look good with regards to no visible seem or filing. Although there are a couple of tiny bumps there are no pores that I can see. There are several like it in style that I have seen and one just like it (although it’s stamped in a different alignment). It seems crazy but I suppose I’d love it to be real.

 

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Yes, absolutely! It’s given me loads of fun in just the last few days investigating it.

 

It looks like a match with this example in Forvm's Fake coin reports.

Hard to tell because of the small image size, but it does look like a double die match. That will make it very likely fake, sorry.

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/f...lbum=search&cat=0&pid=12320#top_display_media

 

Thank you very much for taking the time to have a look. I appreciate it.
I could not access your link for some reason but I had a look at Forvm's fake coin report the other day and saw one very similar. Was the one you reference displayed as a black and white photo with the words "ATHENA PYGASOS KORINTHIAN 300BC" written underneath? If so, it is indeed very similar but I'm not sure its a die match. The nose and neck on Athena seem to have a slightly different alignment than the Athena on my coin and this one is missing the curl at the bottom of the hair section. It is supper similar and it is hard to be sure because the photo is so blurry. The only other thing that confused me is the seller's description of their coin did not match the photo so I wondered if they just took a photo from the internet in an attempt to sell their fake coin. Could this be the case? (Also does anyone know what Sear 1869 means?)

 

This one?
It looks like the photo could have been taken from a book and used to sell their fake coin which did not match the photo.

 

Maybe me just being hopeful again. I can’t quite give up on this!
One other thing that doesn’t seem quite right is my coin is really very dark. Dark grey, almost black. I can’t tell from looking at other coins if this is within the realm of normal or not.
Everything suggest it’s fake, and yet…..

 

Also the coppa mark is in a slightly different orientation….

 

Thanks @RichardT. I had forgotten about the Forum Ancient Coins fake coin reports. I have searched the Forum Ancient Coins fake coin reports many times in the past. However, sometimes I forget to search it. If I remember correctly, one has to be a member of Forum Ancient Coins, in order to search the fake coin reports. It's free. You just have to sign up, by providing your email address. If I remember correctly.
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/fakes/search.php
@JenM I just now did the following search on Forum Ancient Coins fake coin reports :
Corinth pegasus
I found the following 2 coins, which seem similar to your coin.
1. https://www.forumancientcoins.com/f...lbum=search&cat=0&pid=12320#top_display_media
2. https://www.forumancientcoins.com/f...?album=search&cat=0&pid=136#top_display_media
The 1st fake, is the fake that @RichardT found.
The 2nd fake, has a better photo.
Perhaps, if one compares the photos of your coin, versus the photos of the above 2 fakes, versus the photos of the coins on ACsearch, then one could figure out, if your coin is fake. I haven't taken the time, to thoroughly do so. However, I did a brief comparison. I searched ACsearch for the following :
Corinth pegasus
Most of the ACsearch coins seem to have the head and pegasus facing left. However, a few have either the head or pegasus (or both) facing right, like your coin. The following Roma coin, has a head side, which seems similar to your coin, especially the hair style (or is it part of the helmet?) at the back of the head. And the head is facing right.
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=10668226
The following Leu coin, has a pegasus, which has a mirror (or whatever that is) underneath the pegasus, like your coin. And the pegasus is facing right, like your coin.
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=10655306
Here's a Spink coin, which has some resemblances with your coin.
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=10401302
Here's a Nomos coin, in which the head has some resemblances to your coin, especially the hair in the back of the head.
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=10197673
And another Nomos coin, with similar hair in the back of the head.
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=10053848
However, it's possible, that all of the above ACsearch coins are fake. Auction houses make mistakes, sometimes.
Looking further at the ACsearch coins, it seems that, for most of them, on the head side, the helmet has a component, which comes down in the back, and the helmet covers much of the hair in the back of the head, but then there are wild tresses of hair sticking out from under and behind the helmet.
Regarding the color of your coin, you coin may be dark, because of the "tone", which is a surface layer of silver combined with oxygen or sulfur or other elements. Many ancient silver coins are toned, and therefore appear dark. Often, ancient silver coins are cleaned, so that they become shiny and white again.
One quick and easy test, is to carefully touch your coin with a magnet. If the coin is attracted to the magnet, then that may be a bad sign, because, from my limited knowledge of ancient Greek coins, most ancient Greek coins did not contain iron, or any other magnetic material. However, I'm not certain about that.
As a last resort, you could submit your coin to NGC Ancients, to be slabbed. NGC Ancients does not guarantee, that their slabbed ancient coins are authentic. However, if NGC Ancients slabs an ancient coin, then there is a very high probability, that the ancient coin is authentic. NGC Ancients won't slab a coin, which they are almost certain is fake. NGC Ancients has a very good reputation, in that they almost never slab a fake. You can always remove your coin from the slab, after you get the coin back from NGC Ancients (although it takes some doing. I use a hacksaw, myself, whenever I buy an ancient coin that happens to be slabbed). However, it costs money. I don't remember how much it costs. $50? I don't know. Also, the process can take months, if I remember correctly, depending on how busy they are. I've never sent an ancient coin to NGC Ancients, but many ancient coin collectors have done so, for various reasons, especially if they want to auction an ancient coin at Heritage auctions.
If you want to see more examples of your coin type, and if you want to see some prices, you can do the following search at Vcoins.com :
corinth pegasus
Vcoins is a pretty reputable site, where many dealers sell ancient coins.
Finally, you can also try posting a thread, with photos of your coin, and the diameter and weight, and a short summary of the research that you have done so far, on other ancient coin forums, and see what they say.

 

Thank you so much Sand. You have been very kind to keep checking in on this thread.
I have now spent, what seems like hours, looking at photos of Corinth Staters. I am confident that there are many legitimate coins facing the same way as mine so that’s ok…I have checked the magnetism and it is not magnetic, so that’s good. I sent photos of the coin to a local coin dealer and he did not think it was fake but he said it would have to be looked at by a Greek coin specialist also he only had photos to go by.
All of your advice is great and I will leave you in peace now. I will sign up to that website and have a look at your links. Thank you again for your time, you have been more than patient with all of my questions!

 

Ooof. Sorry for posting the same photo three times.

 

You're welcome, Jen. Perhaps, eventually, some experts on Corinth pegasus coins, will see this thread, and help to figure it out.

You can delete 2 of the photos, by editing your post. However, after 2 hours or so, all posts become "locked" and cannot be edited. Unless, perhaps, you become a paying member of CoinTalk (which I am not).

 

@JenM By the way. Your coin, if authentic, is an example of one of the more "high end" ancient coins. That is, the Corinth pegasus coin type, is a rather expensive coin type, because it is silver, and very attractive, and has high demand.
However, if you are interested in acquiring other ancient coins, there are many interesting ancient coins, which are much less expensive. Many ancient coins can be purchased, for less than $100, or even less than $50. For example, bronze ancient coins, are often much less expensive, than silver ancient coins, or gold ancient coins. As another example, ancient coins which are more worn, are often much less expensive, than almost uncirculated ancient coins.
Vcoins.com is a good, reputable place to shop, for less expensive ancient coins, often less than $100, or even less than $50. However, Vcoins.com also has more expensive ancient coins. Vcoins.com also has medieval coins, and modern coins.
Ebay, on the other hand, is hazardous for beginning ancient coin collectors, because there are many fakes on Ebay. However, some experienced ancient coin collectors, find good deals on Ebay. And, there are some reputable dealers, on Ebay.

 

Thank you for the advice. This whole process of discovery has been absolutely fascinating and I have enjoyed every minute of investigation.
Even though the coin is unlikely to be genuine, because of how I got it, it passes so many of the tests! I have register with another ancient coin forum and am waiting to be accepted. I will see if I can find someone who knows about Ancient Greek coins. Fingers crossed. It could be a fun and amazing start to a new, fascinating hobby.

 

Hi @JenM - I think you can be pretty confident that your coin is a fake. cast coins can often look convincingly genuine (they can be made from molds of genuine coins). The fabric of your coin looks pretty far off the me. If you want a higher level of certainty you could send the coin off for grading - and you will likely get something back like this:

 

Regarding the fabric, I would have to agree. Where the silver shows through it doesn’t look warm but more grey. More like steel colour

 

Hey, out of interest, does anyone have the book Greek Coins and Their Values by David R. Sear?

 

edit

 

Checking again. I don’t think I did…see attached