My latest ancient purchase

The left coin looks wrong while the right looks proper. But I'll bet I'm wrong.

 

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The left is fake. On these fakes the die maker thought the head was a face. Its not, its a mask. Look at the eyes. On authentic specimens there is no outline around the eyes.

 

Yeeeehaaaaa!!

 

That seems like a logical choice, especially since that 'gouge' taken out of the Caria Drachm(?) on the right would suggest otherwise---so I'm picking the coin on right since it's the less likely and I suspect Doug of extreme trickery LOL

 

Hmmm, On second thought....

 

I have one of these Parion hemidrachms as well. They are some really interesting little coins:

 

Fakes of these coins are struck from fake dies and have fooled many people more skilled than I until someone figures out the key. Medoraman was right on about the ridges around the eye holes on the Messembria helmet. Seams are a sign of casts and have no relevance here. I know there are experts who recognize all these fakes from style. I don't. I do not have the Apollonia fake but believe the face has a more vacant stare than real ones.

 

To be fair, I read the article in the Celator about these 10-15 years ago, which is why I recognized the coin. The really scary thing about these fakes, to me, was they were struck on flans made of remelted ancient silver. Therefor, any metallurgy tests proved they were ancient metal of the type used for coins. The forgers on these REALLY thought it through in that regard, they simply did not get the style quite correct.