OLD coin...ANY HELP PLEASE

Hey, I found these two coins while sifting for arrowheads. I live in Alabama and the site that I was digging on is a Indian village. I belive this coin is gold to the best of my knowledge. I have tried everywhere to see if someone can identify the coin and so far I havent had any luck. The coins were both found in about 15 inches under the ground.

 

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You might have better luck with a better photo. Here, I cleaned yours up for you.

 

Looks like something from King Herrod's period. Not sure what they are called, maybe a widow's mite?

Ben

 

The design is indeed similar to a widow's mite...but the item pictured almost looks to be silver or some sort of white metal.

Even if it was a widow's mite...a 2000 year-old coin found in Alabama in 15 inches of dirt, and no signs of encrustation?

 

Looks to me like it is supposed to be an Anchor and Star ancient Judaean prutah? I wouldnt say anything on authenticity from pictures I cant see well...but to say they are highly reproduced.

 

it doesn't look right to me. i just glanced through my copy of SNG/ANS 6 palestine, and it's all wrong -- trying to be a hasmonean/herodian bronze fraction, but it's just off, especially the "star" side of the coin. i would lean heavily towards fake. and there's no way it's gold and legitimate. sure it's just not a shiny bronze? (in which case, there's no way it's real -- most of these coins look just plain awful. not well made, plus two thousand years in the ground).

you could always post on ancients.info to see what the professional folks have to say.

but to even find a reproduction prutah in alabama is pretty darn cool.

v.

 

Most certainly an modern imitation of a Hasmonean prutot. These and other reproduction Jewish coins were commonly given out as prizes in Sunday schools in the early part of the 20th century. Some poor kid probably lost their prize!

 

Well...thanks for everyone's help...as far as being real, I found this coin while sifting on a old indian village. I wouldnt think a kid would loose the coin. I was thinking possibly it was a trade item. I was just kinda curious as to what country would have access to this type of coin for trade.

 

As far as being gold, I had a metal detector and swiped it across the coin and as far as I can tell, It registered as gold or a gold/? mix. I'm no expert but this is really something that I wish I could have authenticated. I mean I havent found a single person who had any idea what this was. It could be bronze but i'm not going to "cut" the coin to see what It looks like underneath the tarnish. The scanner really didnt do the color any justice. The color is a yellowish/bronzish/blackish color. It really doesnt have the dark blackish color in person. The site that I found this coin is about 75 yards from the river on a penisula so there wasnt ever any kind or settlement around the site for anyone to have "dropped" the coin. I belive that the coin was indeed a trade item from either the spanish or the french...possibly the portugese traded the coin for food or pelts or what have you. This is really an artifact and not just some item I got from a unreliable source. Thanks for all the info an please feel free to add more information about this coin. I'm very interested in this coin. It is byfar the coolest artifact in my collection.

 

Mabe made by American Indians , didn't the Cherokee tribe write their own language , just a guess maybe they tried their hand at making a coin , and coppied some Jewish coin .
rzage

 

it's not in a native american language, and there's no way it's a native american reproduction of a herodian coin.

i'm convinced you have modern reproduction or fantasy token. the chances that the french, spanish or portugese left this piece behind are negligible -- the coin was at least 1500 years out of circulation, and i've never heard of anyone making contemporary versions of the coin for trade (why wouldn't they use their own?). the simplest explanation is that you have a modern reproduction that someone lost.

if you don't believe me, though, post it on ancients.info, or better yet, take it to a dealer who specializes in either ancients or 16th century (or 17th or what have you) coinage.

again, cool find, but i think you're indulging in wishful thinking. i hope i'm wrong.

v.

 

Well....it might be wishful thinking but i'm still not certain, the area that I found this coin is just so remote....I mean there's really no way someone could drop this coin at this particular location...i'm not an expert though...I mean think about going to your local river bank and then digging down 15 inches and finding tons of arrowhead then two coin in the same spot as these coins...in the same layer of history as the arrowheads. It just doesnt make any sense that someone could have dropped this coin at a indian village and then get buried in the same layer as the arrowheads....I dunno what the deal is with this coin.

 

Thats one of the problems with using coins to date a site - they are known to almost burrow through the soil. If I recall, there have been finds of Victorian coins in situ in the upper strata of Roman sites before.

Trust us - this is a modern imitation of an ancient Hebrew coin.

 

I think Vercinggetorix & Ardatirion know their stuff , and are probably 99%
right ,:smile:hatch::hammer:
rzage

 

http://www.usns.info/coin-poarchcreek.html Check this out for Indian coins. cheryl

 

You must understand, the members who've posted to this thread are intelligent, savvy, and sage. Individuals who've been exposed to every fantastic story anyone can retell, concoct, or (rarely) substantiate. I'm sorry but that is why some of the posters are; jaded and skeptical in their comments.

Take Care
Ben

 

where in Alabama do you live. if you don't mind me asking. Cheryl this might help

 

First off, if it was gold, it wouldn't be tarnished from being buried.

Second, it just doesn't look gold...

I am going to agree with most here that even with very bad photo this looks like a poor fake of a Judaean Prutah or Lepton...a very common coin to be faked in a wide variety of styles

Yours looks to be one of these:



The ones above look very very very similar to yours and these are very common cheap fakes.
Now I cant see your coin very well but I see an anchor and what looks to be little sperm (like the ones above) I assume those are dots with lines like the star side of the coin but just terribly off style...

at the link below they are giving away nice replicas of these free with order:

http://www.inkandblood.com/press_room/news/news_detail.php?PRKey=12

another with the same anchor:

http://www.whitmanbooks.com/Default.aspx?Page=81&ProductID=0794822002

fake ones on pendants:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=9982971

more replicas (click the photo of coins):

http://www.shofartallit.com/product_info.php/products_id/3942?osCsid=d80966aa3c10ac258a66510a762e7402


This one is in a jar of anointing oil :

http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=661113&netp_id=543283&event=EBRN&item_code=WW&view=details:






and here are a few real examples of the coin type I think its imitating:





^^30 USD



^^ 173 USD

It seems most likely that someone discarded a cheap replica of an ancient jewish coin they might have been given as a cheap give away than that someone discarded an athentic ancient jewish coin somwhere in alabama that happens to look like one of the most common fakes of the type.

 

hmm...well yall definately know your stuff. I still cant figure out why in the world they would be at a indian village.....I know now that it's prolly a fake but why an indian village....the layer of dirt where I got these coins use to be the surface of an indian village. Its just very weird that the coins would be there. Thanks SOOO much for everyone's help and Oh I live in Tallapoosa County.

 

Those coins in the post are EXACTLY like my coins. But you all have to belive me when i tell you that i really did dig my coins out of the ground and in the same pile of dirt that i was sifting, i found a piece of indiam pottery and those coins....I mean if someone did drop those coins it must have been around the same time as the indians were living at the site.