Roman Tax Coin - Real or fake?

Hello everyone and happy new year!
Back in September, my wife and I took a trip to Israel. While there, I bought this silver Roman tax coin. After getting back home, I found out the store I bought it at has a terrible rating on Trip Adviser. Now, I'm having doubts to its authenticity. I'd love to get your opinions. I had it weighed and it came to 14.7 grams.
What do you look for to determine if its real or a fake?

Thank for your comments in advance.

Rick

 

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Hi and Welcome to CoinTalk. I don't see anything obvious that indicates it is a cast, e.g., bubbles but on the other hand there are no flow marks at the edges indicating a strike with a die. I'm sure an expert will be along shortly who can make the call definitively.

 

The coin looks Ok to me.

 

Probably ex-jewelry. Looks like the edge has been polished.

 

Welcome to the Ancients Forum, @Rick1350 !

 

A highly faked coin that I know too little about but still don't like the style on yours...

 

Here is a fake example of this coin which I purchased a long time ago.

 

..looks authentic to me as far as i can C...but idk bout the song and dance about 'tax' coin..tho..and of course, welcome to cointalk...

 

Both @Bing and @Deacon Ray have reverses with the eagle facing right. OP's is facing left. I know nothing about these coins just an observation.

 

The eagle's head come in both directions for this type

 

Cool cool. I was just about to look it up

 

i think it's a copy just from the story and spcheal....

 

This is my thought as well. I've read about lots of shady coins being sold in Isreal as some sort of "holy trinket" or what-not.

 

right..and not only that...this guy is using the the same story on different coins in different threads......i'm gonna say 'for entertainment purposes only'..

 

I don’t think Rick (the OP) is being shady or disingenuous at all. Rick, I’d send to an authentication service, like David Sear, for peace of mind. We can only tell so much from the photos.

 

Thanks, @Ryro , @Bing , @furryfrog02 , @ominus1 , & @Nicholas Molinari ! ...for the information about these being frequently faked.

 

This is a very reasonable suggestion.

There is no reason to doubt Rick's story. When I was in Israel some months ago, I saw a number of shops in the old city of Jerusalem selling ancient coins as souvenirs. What they were offering ranged from high quality "biblical" silver to worn but authentic late Roman bronze. Obvious forgeries were frequently included, too. Everything was overpriced and not exactly inspiring confidence, so I didn't buy anything.

For illustration, I took this picture in one of the shops – the coins in the three upper rows are probably authentic Jewish prutot and Roman provincials with artificially applied "sand patina." Below are some similar coins as well as two very badly faked Aspendos staters and an equally fake coin presumably imitating a Rhodes drachm or didrachm.



Both your Antioch tetradrachm and the shekel you posted in the other thread aren't such tourist-grade forgeries. As others have stated above, they generally look good and could well be authentic. Yet, to be certain, you will have to have an expert closely look at them in hand.

David Sear is a good option, NGC Ancients is another if you don't mind the slab. The low-key way of getting an expert opinion would be to show them to a trustworthy ancients dealer at the next nearby coin show.

 

Thanks everyone very much for your input.
I bought two coins while in Jerusalem. I was told one was a silver shekel and the other a Roman denarius used to pay taxes. I'll post the two "Certificates of Authenticity" I received form the store when I bought them. I posted them separately to avoid confusion between the two coins.

To be honest, I'm extremely embarrassed that I fell for their high pressure sales tactics. These two coins were bought on impulse. That, I'll have to live with and add it as another life lesson. Now, I just want to make sure I didn't buy a couple of fakes. You guys mention David Sear and NGC Ancients. Are these two places good for authentication and if real, providing information about the coin?

I've been a US coin collector since I was about 10. I'm looking forward to using this forum to talk about US coins sharing a few of my other coins.
Thanks again guys.

Rick

 

The Certificates are worthless and wrong.

This coin is a tetradrachm of the Emperor Nero, not a denarius. The other coin is also a tetradrachm of one of the Seleucids rulers (as I posted in the other thread). From the pictures I think both are genuine but either David Sear or NGC is a good choice for a fee. They're not terribly expensive coins so take that into consideration if you decide to send them. Best is to show them to an ancient coin dealer.