Can you ID these coins?

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by johnjohnson1957, Jan 27, 2019.

  1. johnjohnson1957

    johnjohnson1957 New Member

    reverse side
    PeterB, it weighs 10 grams . 25mm tall, 27 mm wide. Have to expect some fakes in life. In fact I am going to post two coins I believe are fakes. The front have symbols resembling the Elymais drachms in that they have the trident (or anchor) and bunching of hair on them. The reverse of the coins is completely different from the Elymais drachms' dashes or slashes as you will see.They weigh in at 22 (darker one, also DSCN0183.JPG DSCN0181.JPG DSCN0178.JPG DSCN0177.JPG 30mm wide and tall) and 20 (brighter one, also 29 wide and tall) grams respectively. First two images are of the darker, heaver of the two. The next two images are of the lighter and lighter weight version. PS: Just realized I could post more than one image to a reply and I am given the choice of thumbnail or full size. Going to experiment and go full sized for one, wahoo!
     
  2. Avatar

    Guest User Guest



    to hide this ad.
  3. dougsmit

    dougsmit Member

    I had never before seen a fake Elymais but I believe those two are fantasies and quite unlike the larger Elymais coins. Your photos are fine to show details but many of us would appreciate them more if cropped and combined into one. Almost any photo editing software can do it.
    DSCN0177c.jpg
     
    Sardar and Parthicus like this.
  4. johnjohnson1957

    johnjohnson1957 New Member

    I don't know anything about ancient coins but they just didn't look or feel right. Back to what I believe are real coins as soon as I figure out how to double up pictures
     
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2019
  5. PeteB

    PeteB Well-Known Member

    Yes, definite fake. Authentic Alex III tets weigh about 17 grams...and are silver.
     
    johnjohnson1957 likes this.
  6. johnjohnson1957

    johnjohnson1957 New Member

    Thanks Peter B. I honestly don't mind learning what they are, fakes in this case. Always better to know what you have and are talking about (i.e., have good info) than wishing and hoping. They did a lot of traveling after they left Iran. They kept them stored in their safe so I am sure they thought them something special. Oh well...
     
  7. johnjohnson1957

    johnjohnson1957 New Member

    and now back to one I think is real. This is one of the three types of coins on the bracelet. One group of bracelet coins were identified as Elymais drachms and they had the expected dashes (or slashes) on the back. The next bracelet coin does NOT have the slashes on the reverse although it shares the trident/anchor symbol on the front. The reverse appears to have person (yellow lines)standing more to the left of the coin with out stretched arms (yellow lines) and a square shape (red) to the right
    bracelet 1 coin.jpg
     
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2019
  8. johnjohnson1957

    johnjohnson1957 New Member

    Here is another of the bracelet coins. This one is also missing the dashes (or slashes) on the back as found on Elymais drachms. Has a person standing with their left arm raised and possibly right arm down my their side. bracelet 2 coin.jpg
     
  9. johnjohnson1957

    johnjohnson1957 New Member

    the last of the different coin bracelet coins is this one. It has the head of a woman on one side and the face of a man on the other. The way it is mounted in the setting the woman is straight up right but the man is canted backwards. I placed yellow arrows to show the orientation of the two head to each other. Color off on the first image due to lighting. Actual color is closer to second image
    bracelet 3 coin b.jpg
     
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2019
  10. dougsmit

    dougsmit Member

    Can you explain how you managed to get those blue obverses and decent color reverses. Reshoot when this happens and learn what happened.

    Elymais drachms come in hundreds of variations. Some are just dashes while some have 'normal' reverses. I am not a specialist but someone here might be more likely to ID them with better photos. I do not have a match for yours but will show one I have listed as Orodes I with Artemis reverse.
    oe6000fd0903.jpg
     
    Orielensis, Johndakerftw and TIF like this.
  11. johnjohnson1957

    johnjohnson1957 New Member

    The difference in image tint/color was deliberate. The blue tint was a result of trying many different camera settings and lighting conditions (aperture priority, shutter priority, automatic, artificial/natural light, adding additional light sources, etc) in attempt to better capture the coin's details. These represented the best views of each side. Even with all of that, the "bright" image still fails to capture a good image but it is the best image to date. As best I can tell it looks like a guy with something (crown) on his head, with his head reared backwards almost like he is laughing uproariously. I have shot dozens and dozens of pictures of each side just to get these decent(?) images. Felt seeing the coin details more important than the color
     
  12. johnjohnson1957

    johnjohnson1957 New Member

    Here's another one. While it appears to have rust on it, the coin is non-ferrous
    . ABRABIC COIN.jpg
     
  13. Orielensis

    Orielensis Well-Known Member

    I dabble a bit in collecting Elymaean drachms and find them most charming. Since I have the respective catalogue at hand, I looked up your coins. Based on your pictures, it's not possible to identify subtypes, but these general attributions should be correct:

    1st coin: Kingdom of Elymais, Orodes II, AE drachm, early–mid 2nd c. AD. Obverse: Bearded bust facing forward wearing Tiara with central vertical line and dots at rims, no large tufts of hair at side, pellet inside crescent above anchor with one crossbar to right. Reverse: Dashes. Reference: P. A. van't Haaff: Catalogue of Elymaean Coinage (2007), type 13.3.2–2A.

    2nd coin: Kingdom of Elymais, Phraates, AE drachm, early–mid 2nd c. AD. Obv: bearded bust left wearing tiara with pellet-in-crescent; pellet inside crescent above anchor with one crossbar to right. Rev.: BACIΛEVC ΠPAATHC (blundered), Artemis standing right, not radiate, drawing arrow from quiver on shoulder with right hand, bow in left. Ref: van't Haaff, type 14.6.

    3rd coin: Kingdom of Elymais, Orodes V, late 2nd–early 3rd c. AD, AE Drachm. Obv: Bearded bust of Orodes left with double diadem and tuft of hair on top of head. Rev: Bust of Artemis with beaded tiara left. Ref: van't Haaff, type 18.1.

    Below are two of my Elymaean coins of similar types, just to give you an impression of how they look outside of jewelry mounts. (Just as some others in this thread, I would not recommend disassembling your bracelet, though.)

    Elymais – Orodes II, AE Drachm.png
    Kingdom of Elymais, Orodes II, early to mid 2nd c. AD, AE Drachm. Obv: Bearded bust of Orodes facing, wearing tiara, no large hair tufts at sides; to right, pellet in crescent and anchor with two crossbars. Rev: dashes. Ref: van't Haaff 13.3.2–1B. 15 mm, 4g.

    Elymais – Orodes V AE drachm.png
    Kingdom of Elymais, Orodes V, late 2nd–early 3rd c. AD, AE Drachm. Obv: Bearded bust of Orodes left with double diadem and tuft of hair on top of head. Rev: Bust of Artemis with beaded tiara left. Ref: van't Haaff 18.1.1-2A. 13 mm, 2.6g.
     
  14. johnjohnson1957

    johnjohnson1957 New Member

    Sulla80 likes this.
  15. johnjohnson1957

    johnjohnson1957 New Member

    ma-shops likes this.
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page