An strange silver coin with a king's head and a date-palm tree

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by Framundan, Jul 16, 2019.

?

Do you think it's a fake or not?

Poll closed Jul 30, 2019.
  1. A forgery!

    11.1%
  2. Maybe an authentic.

    44.4%
  3. I'm not sure.

    44.4%
  1. Framundan

    Framundan Member

    Hello,
    I just got a tiny silver coin from a Xinjiang dealer some days ago. Though I can't find any information about it and it seems to be a created forgery.
    What do you think? Or do you have any attribution of the coin?
    Looking forward to your reply and vote.
    unknown.jpg
    Unknown coin
    Silver, Hemidrachm or Obol? 1.32g 1.2X1.2
    Obv: King's bust left, wearing diadem, Nike(?) flying left with diadem
    Rev: Date-palm tree, legend.
     
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  3. Plumbata

    Plumbata Well-Known Member

    Awesome coin! I have no idea but the gut says it's a genuine/contemporary eastern imitative parthian coin, probably way off but others here are well versed in the eastern ancients so you ought to get a good answer. I would have taken the gamble and bought it for a reasonable price if offered in a dusty Xinjiang market.
     
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  4. Parthicus

    Parthicus Well-Known Member

    Interesting. The obverse does kind of look like an imitation of a Parthian obverse with Nike behind king's head. That reverse, though, looks nothing like any Parthian (or Parthian-imitative) that I've ever seen. The palm tree sort of reminds me of some of the Judaea coins from the Bar Kochba Revolt, but of course that doesn't match the obverse at all. And what language is that legend? Could be a modern fantasy piece, but if so it's well-designed to drive numismatists mad.
     
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  5. Pellinore

    Pellinore Well-Known Member

    If you do an ACSearch or Zeno with Palm Tree you will find many date palms like this on Bar Kochba era bronzes, even the lettering is sort of family. But the head is clearly derived from early 1st century Parthian examples. And in silver! Naturally, you could have a look through the book of Mitchiner.
     
  6. lrbguy

    lrbguy Well-Known Member

    I certainly cannot speak to the authenticity of your coin, but the imagery of both sides and the size of the piece put it in range for the early Jewish silver coins of the Persian and Ptolemaic periods. The reverse with a date palm I do not associate with that early period, which gives me pause. The use of the figure of Nike behind the crowned head of the King is not Persian, but that style of head (sans Nike) does appear on the early Jewish silver coins of this size. Too many composite elements here for me to see it as authentic, but keep looking.
     
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  7. Framundan

    Framundan Member

    Thanks for all your replies. Refering to them I have tried my best to search for some information. But I still couldn't find anything useful. Hoping to get more comments and see more viewpoints.
     
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