Hello, was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on some of these coins I brought back from Afghanistan a few years ago? Thanks!
They appear to be coins of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom...here's some history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Bactrian_Kingdom
My thoughts are that 99% of the coins sold to soldiers in Afghanistan and posted here our opinion are obvious fakes. From these photos I would not say they are obvious one way or the other. The coins are appropriate types for the area and might be genuine. They are not the high dollar types usually pushed by fake sellers. I am not a specialist in these and don't know the fine details of style well enough to feel comfortable buying such coins from sellers I do not know. You did not ask for ID's but the coins are common enough you might want to do the research yourself or post individual photos and ask again.
Thanks much for the replies. These did not come from the Bazaar, but the merchant did often supply semi precious stones to the bazaars. I asked him to search for antique rifles and anything else old he came across. After finding some excellent antique rifles (Lebel, Long Lee, Imperial Mosin, etc), he brought me some of these. He wasn't very excited about them and only said " you asked me to look for old stuff, and I found these. Do you want them?" I said, Sure. I very aware of Afghan fakery, but who knows. Here's some more I was able to acquire.
They all look to be Indo-Scythian and early to mid Kushan. I see several Vima Takto / Soter Mega drachms and I think the square with Herakles seated is Azilises? Value would be a few dollars each if genuine
Nothing leaps out at me as an obvious cast copy, but it's never possible to authenticate a coin from a photo. The style seems right. I would proceed under that assumption that the coins are legitimate and start learning more about them. This could be the beginnings of a fascinating hobby.
Stylistically, they all look ok to me. All fairly common coins and in low grades. Not worth much, but all very interesting specimens to have. Thank you for sharing images of them.
Some coins are worth faking, some not. These coins seem to be genuine as the value of them is not high enough to put much effort into counterfeiting them, in my opinion. If I had wanted some souvenirs of my "visit" to the country they would be good ones for handing out to friends and relatives. Handing out Lebels and Enfields could be a bit of a problem.
Thanks again for the comments. Yeah, I didn't think these would be worth faking either. Also, they were all different and there were much lower grade coins present in the batch. Additionally, I never saw anything like these in the bazaars; only saw 20th century Afghan and Soviet stuff mostly. That said, you never know what they might try to fake. Sometimes they put so much effort into faking something, it it makes it cool in its own right. On that, check out this fake Persian Lion Crest. Obviously fake, but some one put a heck of a lot of effort to hand draw that stamp. Did by mean to take the conversation off coins, but there's certainly a lot of cool stuff in Afghanistan.
My opinion is l have seen hundreds of the obvious fakes in hand. Your coins are not fakes. I bought a box cardboard variety full of this type of material mostly crusties but from Afganistan anonymous, but a very nice group of other regional stuff, and was very happy to have them. Nice group to learn with. I'm on the Oregon Coast right now. Photos are at home, but here is one from where I am currently.
