hi, i'm a new coin collector and a new member of the forum because of this following coin. It looks like it could be somewhat roman from looking at articles on this website but really no idea about coins yet so I'm looking for advice from you experts. Thanks for the help.
It copies the design of a coin of the Bar Kochba revolt (132-135 AD), but the inscription is wrong. While it actually does have the correct words ("Jerusalem" around the palm tree, "Year 2 of the freedom of Israel" around the grapes) they are written using the modern form of Hebrew letters. The original coins used a form of lettering called Paleo-Hebrew that is very different-looking from the modern letter forms. Here's a page showing an original coin and a copy that looks similar to yours: https://coinquest.com/cgi-bin/cq/coins.pl?coin=18240 Sorry it didn't turn out to be a genuine ancient, hope you didn't buy it as genuine.
Hello New member. Welcome to Coin Talk. We are all sad when fake coins appear. Maybe some members will guide you to return the piece. Larry
While we are on the "proto Hebrew" topic, does anyone know what the words mean on this Alexander Janus Prutah?
I think you have the inscription side upside-down in your photo. The standard inscription for Alexander Jannaeus' coins of this type is "Yehonatan the High Priest and the Council of the Jews", and while I'm not great at reading these coins your piece does seem to match the standard inscription. (Yehonatan is the Hebrew form of Jannaeus- he held the positions of King and High Priest simultaneously.) Nice coin- the inscription is usually poorly preserved.
Thanks for the answers guys. Is there a market for copies or should i not even try selling it or keeping it