I would be over the moon to have this coin even if it is a fake. I can't afford a real one. Husband's ancestor accompanied William when he came to England to duff up King Harold.
Yes, there is a possibility that the coin is authentic. Without having it in hand and only being able to judge from poor quality photos makes posing judgement with any kind of certainty very difficult. The problems I see in the photos may very well be acceptable in hand. Heck, for $10 I probably would have purchased it too. I think Doug and Severus gave the good advice, unless weight or thickness is really off invest a little more money and send it to an expert.
Thought I'd show my William the Conqueror, Norman edition. His coins improved quite a bit with the move to the island...
Have you tested it to see if it's silver ? Get a piece of tinfoil, bit of spit pop coin on top fold it in the foil and lightly rub your finger over it. If you get a smell of rotten eggs it's silver. I don't know of fakes/repro's being silver. Not in the u.k anyway! It's always a base metal. Fingers crossed your nostrils will soon be twitching at the smell !
Wow! Thanks for all of the responses! I am trying to get my hands on a digital scale to weigh the coin and close in on solving the puzzle more definitively. I might get back to you all in this thread when I have official weights. Thank you for your opinion, TheRed. Could you describe which points on the coin make it look like a reproduction? Might help to make me better at spotting fakes in the future. Clanger, I have not tried that test, nor have I heard of it. If I do not buy a scale soon, then I may resort to that method. Thank you for the tip!
I captured this with the help of my microscope. It is a close-up of the possible casting bubble beneath the "A". The other spot near the "S" seemed to elongated to be a casting bubble from what I was able to quickly research. What is the consensus on whether this is a casting bubble or something else? Is there anything else that it could be?
Worn coin or not, the details are not as sharp as would be expected for a struck coin. It does have a cast look to it.