Hello, I spent 2004 in Mosul Iraq, many times street vendors would display items for sale at Camp Freedom, (one of Sadams palaces we turned into a fort). This is where I purchased the coin pictured. I had no way of knowing if it was actually an ancient coin or made to look like one. One day our mission took us to the ancient Greek city of Hatra, just south of Iraq. I was truly amazed by the Greek ruins, not knowing that the Greek civilization reached so far south into the middle east. After that mission I wondered even more if possibly the coin I purchased could actually be from the same period the Greeks were in Hatra. MGrandy
Unfortunately, no. This coin isn't even remotely similar to any original Greek type. The good news is that genuine ancient Greek coins can cost less than twenty dollars. PS - Greek civilization stretched as far east as India, with the Bactrian and Indo-Greek kingdoms that were left in the wake of the conquests of Alexanders. Those coins are available too!
Ok thanks, luckily this unsuspecting soldier paid very little for it, I think it was 5 or 10 dollars.
That's a small price to pay for that education. Some pay much more. If nothing else it will make a good conversation piece. Don't let this experience discourage you from collecting coins. Thank you for your service.
Thanks for your service too btw. I was in the first Gulf War and saw many of the fakes they were selling, so these are not new. Your coin is definitely modern, it looks like a Greek obverse with Roman type legends, and another type of Greek coin reverse. It is loosely based upon the style of greek coins overall, but nothing a collector would take more than 2 seconds to know is a forgery. If you like coins minted in that ares of the world, there are many available pretty cheaply. Visit Vcoins or CNG and see good examples. If you are interested let me know and I could steer you to some good books. Chris
