Need Attribution of Ancient Greek

I purchased this coin because of the horseman on the reverse. The obverse could well be Alexander. It weighs 8.63 g. Hope you could assist me in the attribution. Thanks..

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

It's Philip II, the father of Alexander the Great. The lettering is a bit soft, but if you look closely, you should be able to make out ΦIΛIΠΠOY. Looks like you have a star or thunderbolt under the horse. These come with many different control marks, but we have no idea what they signify.

 

Hi Charles ... is it bronze, silver, or other?

Philip II AE18 Unit
359-336 BC
Apollo & Youth on Horse




Kingdom of Macedonia, Philip II, AR Tetradrachm
336-328 BC
Zeus & Youth on Horse



Fourree Kings of Macedon, Philip III
323-317 BC
Fourree Philip III & Horse w. rider

 

Thank you both masters and friends. The coin has a yellowish color, almost like brass. Here's a closer scan of the reverse at 600 dpi.

 

Its a copper alloy, but if cleaned can look like brass. I am unsure of the specific alloy they used.

 

it looks like you may have a little bronze disease there 7C, you may want to check that and treat if needed.

 

Hope i do not sound as a spoiler, but i do not like this coin a bit ! The portrait looks generally OK, but the hair looks odd and the wear distribution is strange. The horseman side looks overal soft and bubbly, with the exeption of part of the sharp circular edge. Lastly the metal should not look like yellow brass.
In my opinion, based on these scans, this is a modern fake.

 

I don't think it's fake. These are far too common to make forgery worthwhile.

But I do think it was cleaned by electrolysis, stripping it of any patina, hence the raw metal color and bronze disease. It also looked like someone practiced their tooling skills on the bust.

There are more than a handful of dealers in the ME who just love to doctor their wares, and you occasionally come across these "practice coins." (I mention the ME because I believe our friend Charles hails from Lebanon.)

 

Good luck for me anyway.. Philip II, father of Alexander the Great, is the oldest coin in my possession.

 

I don't like it either. It looks soft with buubles and therefore cast to my eyes. The edge would be interesting to see.

 

I managed to scan a part of the edge, at 600 dpi. Hope it could help.