Assistance Identifying Ancient Coins

Hi All,

I'm hoping to purchase one or more of these ancient coins, yet am having a hard time identifying them. The two silver coins are both about 16g (one is exactly 16 grams, the other is 16.69 grams) and I unfortunately don't have the weights on any of the gold coins. Any help would be greatly appreciated - thank you !

 

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The first two are Seleucid Tetradrachms but have odd surfaces. Possibly fake. The rest are certainly replicas.

 

So fake....

 

The one in the middle at the bottom is a Kidarite stater issued under Kipanada. It may be fake, but i would not immediately condemn this one based on this tiny picture.
The rest looks fake indeed.

 

Thank you all very much, this is certainly good information - keep it coming! @THCoins, @Sallent, @David@PCC - the possibility of numerous forgeries in there makes me wonder if this one, that I already bought, is in fact real...

 

I'm not certain, but I have my doubts. What is the weight and measurement?

 

Stop buying on Ebay. That site is a sewer full of steaming piles of fake ancients. Best avoided unless you have tons of experience and can spot the rare gems from the piles of manure.

 

Try vcoins.com for ancients that are guaranteed to be authentic.

 

The "gold" coin on the right of the bottom picture is supposed to be from Sasanian Persia. I think it might be copying Peroz (459-484 AD) but the cast is so bad it's hard to tell. Sasanian gold is scarce, if genuine it would be a several thousand dollar coin.

 

It has a "spongey" look some cast coins get. What is weight and dimensions?

 

The style of the Alexander tet is good, but, while a coin can be condemned as fake from a photo, it's never enough to assure its authenticity. What is the weight of the coin? Also, check the edge of the coin for a seam or file marks. Either of these would pretty much condemn it as a cast copy.

 

IMO, if you are buying expensive coins (Ancients, world, US) it's best to buy from trusted dealers until you build up enough knowledge to be comfortable with IDing fakes. If you try to go bargain hunting, you better really know what your doing or you'll get burnt. Vcoins is a good place to start.

Hope that helps

 

Thanks all for the continued help! I've posted a few more pictures below of the "crackly" edge, slightly concave obverse, and another straight on that shows the lines on the face a bit better.

I appreciate all recommendations to buy from reputable places like VCoins, something I would absolutely do if this were big money and I was starting a collection (which I might start doing, I didn't realize I'd enjoy ancients so much!). For background, I've never gotten into ancients, but have started buying historically significant coins from the countries/regions of the world that I have traveled. I have a friend currently in Afghanistan who I've asked to start looking for alexander tets, and other ancients he can find for me - hence this first batch of coins. If I find a good deal, I'll have him swipe it up

Thanks again guys and I hope the extra pics help to authenticate this tet

@gsimonel @Oldhoopster @Kentucky @Bing

 

The cracked edge has an authentic look to it.

Be aware that countries like Afghanistan are big producers of fakes. I would not expect genuine coins to be cheaper there than elsewhere. Most people are well aware of the market value of rare coins, even in remote areas. They may pretend otherwise. That is a classic ploy to fool tourists.

I remember reading years ago in one remote country the locals would age their new bronze fakes by feeding them to a goat and then recovering them later with a nice ancient looking patina.

 

The seam looks okay, and the stress marks are encouraging. The overall look, however, reminds me of pewter, but that could be just weird toning. What is the weight?

Unless your friend is an expert on ancient coins, buying them in places like Afghanistan is a pretty good way to get ripped off. Many countries have laws restricting the export of coins found in their soils--although I don't know if that is the case with Afghanistan--so anything found in, say, an open bazaar is likely to be a copy.

Several of the people on this forum sell ancient coins.

 

While the edges might look ok, this could still be a struck forgery. Not every forgery is a cast. The reason I think the tet is a forgery is that the surface has this weird pattern that just would not be in the original (magnify the obverse picture and take a closer look). Also, the portrait looks like it was engraved with modern tools. It just has that carved look instead of something that was hand worked by an expert celator. At least it doesn't look right to me upon close inspection. Guys, don't be suckers and get taken in simply because of the edges. Even if the weight was right I'd still put my money on forgery based on surfaces and style (the way the bust looks to have been carved--especially Alexander's hair).

Also, the reverse looks like a poor attempt at mimicking the slight concave you usually find on the reverse of ancient coins, but look at it closely, the edges of the reverse have no concaveness and the middle fields on the reverse look as if the die itself was carved rather roughly to make a concave strike, rather than the natural subtle flow you'd find on a genuine coin.


I would not be surprised if it was a Bulgarian forgery made out of pressed modern fake dies. In fact, that's where my money is on that. A forgery made by one of Slavey's apprentices (although not one of his best pupils).

 

I knew a guy that sold quite a few "original" civil war bullets at gun shows. He would cast them in his garage, then bury them in his cat's litter box. A month or two later he would take them out, rinse off, type up a brief history of the battlefield they came from, and get a couple of dollars each.

 

Weight and measurement?????

 

Those who sell fake ancient coins make a lot of their money from people who have no desire to learn enough about ancients to protect themselves and who think the rules of safe collecting only apply to collectors. The worst place to buy ancient coins is in areas where there are deployed soldiers and tourists who trust colorful ten year olds who brother found the coins they are selling. There is one other little thing to consider. Export of genuine ancient coins is illegal or tightly regulated in some places but cheating foreigners is not discouraged. Buy coins from dealers who know the rules and the coins. Good deals may be good......or not.

 

I know ancient silver coins and leave a gray mark on paper and I used that to test the authenticity of my silver ancients but is this method of testing very relyable? jw