Forgive me for posting a large lot in one thread - I have been left these amongst many others to be Id'ed by Wednesday, and I am running out of steam! Even if you can point me to the right area in Wildwinds or elsewhere, that would help: 1. Small silver, ~16mm diameter, weighs 2.92g - possibly winged Victory reverse: 2. Silver, ~18mm diameter, weighs 4.72g - Eagle reverse and possibly APEI in Greek letters on reverse: 3. Silver, ~18mm diameter, weighs 3.76g - Came with label just saying "Apollo": 4. Bronze (?) ~20mm, weighs 8.34g - reverse looks like a tower or lighthouse: 5 and 6 Silver (?) ~17mm, 6.4g each - Crab reverse. I can find many coins with this reverse, but I can't make the lettering work for any of them. Also concerned with two such similar coins in the lot as to whether they are repros: I will put the remaining 5 in a reply.
7. Silver Tetradrachm, 26mm, 13.4g - I assume Tyche obverse, Eagle reverse: 8. Silver Tetradrachm, 22mm, 12.08g, Eagle reverse - is this too good to be true? 9. Roman era (?) Bronze, 20mm, 9.31g, very handsome eagle reverse - I can't make out the writing, and is this also too good? 10. Small silver, possibly Roman, 17mm, 2.1g, possibly warrior reverse? 11. Finally small bronze - Prutah? 10mm, 4.74g, Ewer on one side, Horse on the other: Thank you for any help you can provide.
nr 3 is Seleukid, Alxander Balas. nr 10 is Indo-Greek, Apollodotus II. Reverse shows Athena with thunderbolt and aegis.
None of these strike me as obviously genuine. I might be wrong on some (#9, the Claudius II tetradrachm from Alexandria in particular could fool me) but the pair (5, 6) would be enough to cast doubt on the bunch. Birds of a feather flock together. It would be interesting to see a few from the lot that you were able to ID. I'm no expert and am not in the business of expertizing coins from photos but this is a lot to be shown to someone knowledgeable who could examine them in-hand.
Thanks @dougsmit - the chap who brought them to me has brought me lots before, and the majority have been genuine. He has collected in a very amateurish way over 50 years, picking up things in antique shops and fairs because he liked them and with very little knowledge. I am sure he has been "had" many times by unscrupulous dealers, but not always and it would be unfair to condemn the whole lot on the basis of a few duffers. He has been very understanding when I have pointed out the fakes in the previous lots.
I'm with Doug on most of these. The Victoriatus and Epirus look absolutely bunk. The Seleukid Balas? Perhaps, might be OK??? Not sure why someone would fake a slightly beat-up Æ ATG type. That's a club and bowcase btw OP. 5&6 shouldn't even be a question at all. The other set? #9-#11(Alexandrian Bi Tet, Apollodotus, and Æ Kyme) could be OK. But that Phoenician Tet looks soapy, and that Olympia Stater would fetch $1000s if it was actually real. If I were a prospective buyer and someone showed me these pics... It would be a 'HARD PASS' on all of them; based on principle alone.
#1 is a Roman Republican quinarius with Jupiter head r./Victory crowning trophy reverse. This type was issued by a couple of different moneyers, so you'll need to figure out what it says in the exergue on the reverse. #9 is a year 2 tetradrachm of Claudius II from Alexandria.
Thanks for this. I am not at all familiar with these coins - which city or whatever does the highlighted text refer to? I want at least to look it up so I can learn and also explain to the chap why we think it is of low value. Thank you.
I believe all the silver above are modern forgeries. And poorly done at that. Soapy, poor "strike" and craters. Sorry to say, but hopefully you will destroy them. If they fooled you and your friends then they can fool others.
Rather than destroy them, you can do what I do when I get a fake I can't return and donate them to the ANA's counterfeit coin class. I believe you can get a receipt for your donation that you can claim on your income taxes.
I don't own any of them at the moment - I am going to have a difficult conversation with the current owner on Wednesday!
I don’t see anything strikingly wrong with #10 myself edit: I think it’s Indo-Greek/Bactrian with Athena promachos reverse
I see nothing at all wrong with 4, 9, 10, or 11. I wouldn't touch the rest. 10 is one of the late Indo-Greek kings, someone like Apollodotus II or even Start II. I'm also not sure that there's anything wrong with the victoriatus. I'm not an expert, but it looks like a typical worn and debased specimen.
ATG stands for Alexander the Great. Copper (Ae) coins with obverse Alexander as Herakles and reverse club and bow with Alexander's name in between are fairly common.
I would agree. The Victoriatus (#1) would have fooled me if fake; like @SeptimusT I think it may be a genuine worn specimen. #4 (maybe) and #9-11 (definitely) appear genuine, as others have already mentioned. The fact that two coins (#5 and 6) have identical obverse and reverse die matches with an identical flan and strike definitely condemns them as forgeries. The other silver coins are not within my area of expertise but I agree that they look suspicious.
Thank you all for your assistance. I will probably negotiate to buy 1, 4, 9, 10, 11 - not for much money but they are saleable to the new collector looking for something ancient. Numbers 5 and 6 are condemned out of hand - he may want them back, otherwise I will destroy. Numbers 2, 3, 7 and 8 I will discuss with him with a view to sending them off to a good coin auctioneer to get a final view on them. I have other stuff to send, so it will cost us nothing to get a definitive decision on them. (I would not sleep easy at night worrying I had condemned a good coin!) I posted the coin below in a previous thread. I got some answers and no suggestion of it being a fake. In view of the above, anyone want to chip in with any further thoughts? Measures 31mm and 16.3g. I may send this to the auction house too, if the vendor agrees:
