help me id these coins

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by memeni, Aug 13, 2019.

  1. memeni

    memeni Member

    [​IMG] which denomination and age are they from ? are they real ? any info i can pick up?
     
    Last edited: Aug 13, 2019
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  3. PlanoSteve

    PlanoSteve Well-Known Member

    Just a recommendation...when you're asking for help, you want to make it easy for someone to help you. I suggest posting one coin per post, show both the obverse & reverse, & show it oriented correctly. The easier you make it to respond, the more responses you are likely to receive. The more difficult you make it on people, the less they are likely to help...JMHO. :happy:
     
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  4. gsimonel

    gsimonel Well-Known Member

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  5. Bing

    Bing Illegitimi non carborundum Supporter

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  6. gsimonel

    gsimonel Well-Known Member

    It's possible that I was too rash, but I based my assumption on the helmet of the third coin from the left in the top row.

    Because the person who posted the question is a new member, I'd rather not say more. No offense, memeni, but there are occasionally dishonest people who post photos of coins that they know are fake just to see if it's possible to pass them off as legitimate. Until we get to know you a little better, I'm going to be a little cagey.

    One thing that helps convince us of your sincerity is if, in addition to PlanoSteve's recommendations, you include an explanation of how you acquired these coins.
     
  7. memeni

    memeni Member

    i dont mean to do any of that. i am just very young in age and i Live in a territory where these coins are found most. so in my surroundings there is a lot of sellers but i cant trust them as well. So i found my way on this forum to study these kind of things. Depending on the comments and reviews from some fellows ill go see the coins myself in a couple of days. i just requested more pictures as well. i just want to get beter every day, so every help is a step for me.
     
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  8. memeni

    memeni Member

    Also please help me out with this thread as i own those coins as well. i have them in my house and i still havent paid for them. How would i go proving what it is 100%. What kind of physical tests can i make? But people i oughtta trust conflict each other so i really wanna find out and learn some techniques.

    https://www.cointalk.com/threads/help-id-these-two-ancients.344348/
     
  9. kevin McGonigal

    kevin McGonigal Well-Known Member

    What is the weight of these coins, each one?
     
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  10. memeni

    memeni Member

    if you can wait to help with patience, ill go see them during the weekend and scale precisely.
     
  11. kevin McGonigal

    kevin McGonigal Well-Known Member

    Take your time. You don't have to weigh all of them, just 1/3 or so. Also let us see the reverse side. Some fakes are so good that many of us collecting ancient coins are fooled, even when we have them in hand.
     
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  12. John Skelton

    John Skelton Morgan man!

    I don't understand. Memeni says first that he has to go see them, then turns around and says he has them in his house and he doesn't own them? Explain, please.
     
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  13. memeni

    memeni Member

    That's for another thread. The ones in my house are these silver coins right here. i need to identify them as well.

    i dont know if they are real or fake. What is your recommendation on what to do ?
    See here:

    i will also scale them and take Side pictures to share with you.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Aug 14, 2019
  14. memeni

    memeni Member

    Does that mean you can never make sure if something is ancient without a doubt ? There must be a way to find out, which i'm after. i am New to this and i think there is so many pieces to collect around me and i want to do it with knowledge and without getting fooled.
     
  15. dougsmit

    dougsmit Member

    I was unwilling to be sure that the Athenians were fake but the other two definitely are. Between this and the other images shown, I see no possibility they are real and that casts more doubt on the Athenians since fakes tend to congregate together. It would seem unusual for someone who did not know the series to have 20 real Athenian tetradrachms.
    For the record: I consider it possible in many cases to be 100% certain from a photo alone that a coin is fake but never (not ever!) possible to be 100% certain a coin is genuine without some other information not provided by the best photo. There are many photos that are far from certain one way or the other. The poor group image of one side of the Athenians may not show anything that condemns them with certainty but that is a far cry from saying they are authentic.
     
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  16. memeni

    memeni Member

    The good thing is both suppliers are different, and there are random fake and Real coins out there. yes, most say it is fake, it is the patina isn't it ? Or is it the style of the coins ? What makes you so sure ?
     
  17. memeni

    memeni Member

    İd go with them Being fake as well. After comparing the looks with these tetradchum coins

    http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/greece/ionia/ephesos/i.html
    The only thing that scracthed my mind is the possibility of them Being polished and the supplier is someone i trust calling them rare and good condition, but yeah..
     
  18. Kentucky

    Kentucky Supporter! Supporter

    In general it is difficult to determine authenticity particularly of ancient coins. Two simple tests that are quick and weed out many fakes are 1) are they magnetic (fake) and 2) what do they weigh. Good luck with learning.
     
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  19. lehmansterms

    lehmansterms Many view intelligence as a hideous deformity

    We all wish there was a simpler, more clear-cut answer to your question, but the ability to sense authenticity from photos or at a glance is a skill developed pretty much only by long experience with both genuine coins and modern copies.
    Some pointers for things you can check which do not require long familiarity -
    Do the coins respond to a magnet? If they're genuine, they're silver about as pure as was technically able to be refined at the time so the presence of any magnetic elements in the alloy is a major red flag raised against authenticity (Chinese fakes, particularly, are known for being magnetic although they appear to be silver.)
    What is the exact weight of each piece? - again, the technology of the era might not have been able to weigh consistently down to 1/100 of a gram, but to be authentic (unless there are signs of material having been removed) pieces varying by a significant fraction of a gram from the average weight of genuine specimens become questionable. It's really important to be able to weigh coins - fakers seldom-to-never get the weights right, especially on ancient coins - so it's worth your while to acquire a scale accurate to + or - 0.01 g. Nowadays they're available for only a few dollars as pocket jewelry scales, etc. On paper, the Attic tetradrachm should weigh 17.2 g - the coins themselves will typically be around 16.4-17.0 g
    Die matches - these were struck in astronomical numbers. The chances that you will have exact die matches in a lot of a couple dozen apparently circulated coins are vanishingly small, so if you can tell that there are die matches, that's a pretty solid indicator that you need to look more closely.
    I am copying the link to a site which has a very detailed system for attempting to rate the likelihood that any given piece is authentic vs modern. The original is in Spanish, but it has been run through google translate, etc, so the syntax is a bit tortured - however it should give you an outline of the sorts of indicators we look for in determining authentic vs copy.
    https://translate.google.com/transl...&u=https://www.tesorillo.com/otras/falsas.htm
     
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  20. gsimonel

    gsimonel Well-Known Member

    One way to protect yourself is to dealer only with reputable dealers who specialize in ancient coins.

    Price can sometimes be an indication that a coin is fake. Check out the links below. It is to Classical Numismatic Group, a reputable ancient coin dealer. I've searched for "Athens tetradrachm Athena Owl."

    https://www.cngcoins.com/Search.asp...R_TYPE_ID_3=1&SEARCH_IN_CONTAINER_TYPE_ID_2=1

    Notice the prices. The coins tend to start at around $300 and go up from there. So if someone is offering you that coin for $50, you can be certain that it is fake.

    You should try this yourself. Go to cngcoins.com, click on "Reseach" and enter "Ephesus drachm bee stag" in the box after the word "Search." Then do the same for "Alexander great drachm Zeus."

    You can also do the same searches at vcoins.com, where you will find similar coins but in a much greater range of condition and prices. (With ancient coins, price varies a lot depending on condition. CNG tends to deal mostly in high grade coins, so that's why their prices seem higher.)
     
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  21. John Dunkle

    John Dunkle New Member

     
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