It was a huge surprise when I stopped by a modern coin dealer I know, he said he got these coins from a guy that passed away. He does not know much about ancients and asked me for any help I could give, I took a couple pics and am going to get some info to help him and may offer a deal on a couple. I like the "owl" coins. And a couple others. I am just glad to help him any way I can
Top left is Lysimachus, appears to be a forgery. Next is an Athenian owl, likely forgery based on the surfaces. I wouldn't buy it. Next is a tetradrachm of Nero, a well-known forgery. I'm not sure what the last coin in the first row is, nor am I exactly sure what the first coin in the next row is supposed to be(Athenian didrachm?) but overall I'm not confident it is authentic because it's overall fabric looks modern to my eye. The two after that are modern replicas of "widow's mite" prutahs. On the last row, two modern replicas of Judaean shekels. The smart thing to do is not to buy any ancients from any dealer whose ancients inventory looks like this unless you are certain you know enough to determine whether or not the coins are genuine
The last coin on the first row is a likely replica of a shekel of Tyre. (But not THE shekel of Tyre.)
Not a single one looks authentic. Best tell your guy that he needs to stick with what he knows, would be sad if the dealer started selling obvious fakes
...yeah... i concur with @red_spork....on these....most look like replicas...advise caution... the holed owl might be authentic...idk...on these might be best to be Timothy ....Leery...
Here are your widow's mites: https://www.amazon.com/Widows-Coins...t=&hvlocphy=9031526&hvtargid=pla-568267009662 You can get a bag of 50 for $12 bucks.
Yikes. Those are all most definitely fake. At least 6 are clear fakes to me and if that many stand out to me, I don't have faith in the rest.
I appreciate all your input, there was some other coins I told him I suspected they were fake. He didnt even have them.out for sale since he had no clue on them. Well atleast he did say if he ever ran across any he would let me know. I will see him tomorrow and share info. He had 2 other once he showed me and asked if I knew if they were real and I looked at them and said they were copys...he said how do you know, I said, it says "copy" on the rim...lol. i just hope they were a gift to him from the guy who passed so hes not out any money.
That stack of coins would have been worth several thousand if authentic. Lesson to us all: make sure you know what the heck you're doing before spending a single cent on collectibles. As far as some of those coins go: the widows mites and Judean coins are fun for Bible School, or another religious-orientated kids program. There are several religious websites that sell big bags of Mites advertised as Bible School prizes or demonstrations.
Agree with everyone here: most are obvious fakes, which would make me pass on anything else associated with the group.
