Have you ever seen

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by Claudius 11, Apr 22, 2020.

  1. Claudius 11

    Claudius 11 Active Member

    What a surprise going to say a coin arrived this morning but is it 24mm 3.4g the seller did say light on reflection i think it`s some kind fibreglass composite truthfully it`s a nice piece of work where the maker got the mold from have no idea with respect i should have asked details before buying ( we have all been there )
    1 .JPG
     
    Broucheion likes this.
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  3. Roerbakmix

    Roerbakmix Well-Known Member

    I really don't know what you are asking.
     
    Nicholas Molinari likes this.
  4. Claudius 11

    Claudius 11 Active Member

    What I'm really asking is it a coin
     
  5. dougsmit

    dougsmit Member

    With a good photo, this would be a question we could not answer. With the provided photo - impossible. Does it float?
     
    Roerbakmix and 1934 Wreath Crown like this.
  6. Claudius 11

    Claudius 11 Active Member

    Sorry Doug will try a better photo later. The seller thought it was Roman but very lightweight myself thought it was Greek. Apollo with cithara reverse and quite small i even thought it might be silver just same colour like the photos show so imagine my surprise when I opened envelope its 24mm and weights 3.4g not silver not bronze any bronze coin 24mm would weigh more.
    I think now it is something made for the tourist trade its really well made reason for this post is maybe some readers have bought similar when on holiday
     
  7. Justin Lee

    Justin Lee I learn by doing

  8. Claudius 11

    Claudius 11 Active Member

    Justin yes it does look like ones in acsearch infact just the same colour as in the photos its just the size and weight I can't get over its it's quite thick really beautifully made at first I thought maybe struck but you can see the ridge round the rim it is definitely cast.
    That's why I think it's for the tourists. I think an aluminium blank would weigh more
     
    ominus1 and DonnaML like this.
  9. Broucheion

    Broucheion Well-Known Member

    Hi @Claudius 11,

    Years ago it was popular to make casts of coins for study and to send out for 'in hand' examination. Now photos can be much better and convenient but it could be that this is a cast originally meant for study and, when done, went up for sale.

    - Broucheion
     
    Alegandron and Claudius 11 like this.
  10. pprp

    pprp Well-Known Member

    This is supposed to be a stater from Mytilene. It should normally weight 10-11 g so you got a fake
     
  11. Pavlos

    Pavlos You pick out the big men. I'll make them brave!

    It is indeed a coin from Myteline as @pprp said, they issued that type in stater and hemidrachm, your coin is either heavily underweight or overweight. So I shout fake as well. With those diameters I suppose the faker tried to replicate the stater.
     
  12. Claudius 11

    Claudius 11 Active Member

    Surprised no one has mentioned the word plastic that`s what i really think it is i can picture the wee boy in Athens back street with his small roadside stall selling these to tourists, you can`t visit Athens and come back with nothing when i was there i came back with bronzes and ceramics which were sold as copies of artifacts held in the museum at that time i never collected coins but that was a long time ago and i suspected it was copied from a museum piece. What Broucheion says i think is really the answer (never knew that) so after all that lets PRETEND it is a real coin and to that end i bought this book
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    in this book it has a lot of info won`t make me an expert but it helps a lot. Most of the pages have photos of coins which i thought were life size but they are not one page shows a DIDRACHM the next page shows a Pentadrachm the same size would be nice if someone posted the sizes of denominations it also tells how to read Greek coins ( as well as Roman) and in this case starting from the top left it reads MYIT the book does give locations of towns with dates and there is towns mentioned starting with MY but not the one quoted so you see i still have a lot to learn. Regarding fake it`s only fake if you think it is a real coin if you really read what Broucheion has posted there may not be many out there and in that case i will treat this as a rarity. Any more info i would love to hear it.
     
  13. pprp

    pprp Well-Known Member

    With all due respect, it's not easy for me to understand your text above. In any case here's a link to a similar coin with dimensions and references

    https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=1236871
     
    hotwheelsearl and Alegandron like this.
  14. Claudius 11

    Claudius 11 Active Member

    pprp sorry you are unable to follow my text will try and brush up my English. The link you give is a real coin but the weight is nearly 4 times more than the one I have. The one I have is made of plastic (not really a coin as such ) which I thought was copied from the museum to sell to tourists. If you read Broucheions post above and really try to understand it, it explains everything when i said I never knew that I bet 99% of people reading this never knew it either. If it's the part below the book photo maybe you need to have the book to follow what I have written what I'm basically trying to say is it helps you to read Greek/roman coins there are pages and pages with
    ref. to where the coin came from along with the date it was made. The book also tells how to read the coins in this case the letters read MYIT but there was no ref. to those letters in the book
    But you and pavlos seemed to understand it. Hopefully I have explained it a little better.
     
  15. Claudius 11

    Claudius 11 Active Member

    Would be grateful for an answer this morning when reading the book my understanding is when reading the letters MYIT that is the name of the town pprp and pavlos mention Mytilene is that what the 4 letters stand for because there is no ref. in the book. there is a ref. for MY which is the town of Mycalessus in the division of Boeotia in Greece dated 387-384 B C and if that is the case what would the letters IT stand for.
     
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