http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20100811/ML.Israel.Ancient.Coin/ Sorry if this is posted already, didn't see it.
I am kinda suspicious of the authenticity, the weight of 1 ounce? I truly doubt they used our current ounce as a unit of measure 2200 years ago!
And the woman is holding the coin with her bare hands AND on the surface. Like rdwarrior, I doubt the authenticity of it.
The coin is 27.71 grams , they rounded. It's also not Unc. You guys should be detectives.... would the story be more credible to you if she held the coins with boxing gloves ?
Its a lovely coin and interesting in an historic context...after 2,200 years, holding the coin with your hands isnt probably much of a concern.
Looks like a typical gold Octodrachm. Nothing looks fishy, though in that part of the world you always need to check for authenticity. The Ptolemy's and Seluecids fought many fights over that part of the world, so finding either of their coins is not surprising. Go to CNG and you will see many like it that they have sold, many recently.
medoraman is correct. The type is genuine. The large gold octodrachm was minted for many years during the Ptolemaic Dynasty. Here's the CNN page which has a better picture: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/08/12/israel.rare.coin/index.html?npt=NP1 And if you go here: http://www.acsearch.info/index.html and search for octodrachm you will see many examples. BTW, there has also been found a gold double octodrachm at 55.5g of similar type.
In the past you wouldn't have been kidding. I remember a story of a stash of Roman gold found. It was way to many for the early numismatic market to want, so just the rare emperors were pulled out. The rest of them, about 400,000 gold coins, were melted into gold ingots.
ff-topic:A metal detecting guy in England to found also large jar of old roman coin. But a2200yr gold that cool I wish I had found it!!!
