Hello everyone, I found this coin in my late Grandfather's envelope of oddities. So far I have learned that it could be a Tyre mint half shekel, I have no idea on how to date the coin but from the research it most closely resembles the picture below however I am no expert. I took the coin to a local dealer, from a distance of no less than 8 feet he looked in my direction and immediately said "it's a fake",HMMMMM. Anyway, undeterred I took it to a jeweler to have it weighed, 6.28 grams was the outcome. I welcome any and all opinions as I have a great respect for this community. I will upload the best pics I can, in order to determine within reasonable doubt if this coin is indeed real or fake. I understand the odds are significantly against me but I figure, what the heck! I have a ton of pics, mostly through a 10x loop so if more are needed please let me know. One specific pic shows how the coin is slightly bowl shaped. Thank all you again. Mike
Fake. It's a cast replica. These are common due to their association with the biblical "30 pieces of silver."
Thanks Paul I was worried about that basically because of the time period it most represented. Can you tell it is a cast from the edge or is it something else noticable to the trained eye?
I'm not Paul but I'll answer . Your token's style isn't quite right. As for casting, the surface has little bubbles and pits associated with casting. Plus, the flan shape and "dies" match a known cast fake. See additional examples in this thread from last week: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/i-gambled-on-bad-pics-how-dumb-was-it.272411/#post-2306141
Also, Tyrian shekels and 1/2 shekels were minted of very fine silver. Silver does not corrode like the OP coin as it's less reactive than bronze. Your coin is cast of some base metal that has corroded, or it was artificially distressed to make it look ancient.
I was going by the surfaces and the verdigris. Silver won't corrode that way, like @John Anthony said. Your edge pic also hints at a seam, but I couldn't really tell.
Thank you all, for your insight and expertise. It's nice to have an outlet to learn and have an items characteristics broken down. Great learning experience!
WOW, the link above looks exactly like my coin, I wonder how long this fake cast has been out there?? Thank you all for your input and expertise. It's a great thing to have an outlet like this!!
