Alexander the Great?

I think we have established that the OP coin is fake.

 

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That is certainly a matter of opinion. I see several coins in that group that I would be happy to own but my collection is not full of EF slab candidates. There are several 'budget' coins IMHO worth the price asked. Of course if you chase EF 'possible' fakes, there will be many other opportunities. I also note a considerable bias toward 'Lifetime' coins which I do not share. Possibly if you must have just one coin and it must be lifetime, you might have to go over $300.

The big point is that you do not have to gamble $300 to get a coin. The links to identical coins establishes that the OP coin is a cast fake but we all knew that from the song and dance from the seller.

Ides put this as well as it could be said. Now, don't forget this lesson and be tempted to buy other coins from this dealer. For that matter don't ask them for change for a quarter.

 

Not sure about that. I myself have two for $200, on VCoins I see about a dozen under or equal to that.

 

Thanks for sharing forgerynetwork.com

Look at the fake version of my coin:



And now for mine, the real version:



The fake version's lion skin is all wrong in style, Alexander's forehead looks squashed compared to the genuine example, the drapery hanging from Zeus is the wrong style on the fake, the throne legs look so sloppy on the fake, the eagles style is wrong too. One of the legends on the reverse is missing on the fake, and the other one is missing the letter O. Also look at that messed up edge on the fake one to hide the cheap casting from the original fake mold it was made out of, and how perfectly centered it is (also usually a warning sign).

Looking at that fake version of my coin is so sad. Even if I didn't have my coin to compare to, or the pictures of other coins like mine who have sold at auction, there is just something about it that screams modern fakery. Just look at those abs and chest muscles on that fake Zeus

 

I like the exotic large flan Alexanders. This is my 35mm tetradrachm from Temnos mint:

 

beautiful coins

 

I find interest in the missing O from the fake and the large one on Sallent's coin. It looks like there might be a trace of the o on the fake but the cutter tried too hard to make the o as tiny as it often is on genuine coins. Not just Alexanders but many Greek coins show us why the name of the litter was o-micron or little o. Note on this one below selected from the under $300 group how the o after P looks more like a period. This is perfectly normal.

Below I have an AE Alexander which also has the dot o.


Even 5 centuries later this Diocletian of Alexandria shows almost dot like omicrons at 9 o'clock and 2 o'clock.

 

Thanks Barefooter and Greg Heinrich, your comparisons are really instructive. I have an Alexander tetradrachm somewhere (my father-in-law left it to me, but I haven't started sorting his Greek coins). Curious what you think of it.

 

Here it is. Hard to make a good picture of the obverse with its high relief. There is a curious gold-colored deposit on it, here it looks like sand, but it's definitely lustrous. It's a thick coin with a large test cut obscuring the feet of Zeus. Diameter 27 mm, weight 17,21 gr.

 

A similar one to this is on Wildwinds, see Price 3139. It has the following description:
KINGS of MACEDON. Alexander III. 336-323 BC. AR
Tetradrachm (27mm, 17.07 gm). Salamis mint.
Struck 332-323 BC. Head of Herakles right,
wearing lion's skin headdress / Zeus seated
left, holding eagle and sceptre; bow before.
Price 3139; Müller 1287. VF.
From the Charles E. Weber Collection.

 

I wonder if there are many Salamis mint tets with test cuts that look like they were made with a dull chisel? Here is mine.

 

Thanks very much. To judge from Wildwinds, that must be it, because this one has a bow and no bowcase, and no letter B. The style is not quite the same I would say.

 

OK, for comic relief, here are my Alexanders...silver and bronze:

 

Beautiful or ugly, every coin has a story to tell

 

With respect to price you can certainly send a seller an offer on Vcoins. Less than half of the coins I've purchased through Vcoins were bought at asking price, some were purchased for below 50% asking price but most that I asked for a discount on were bought at 75-85% of asking price. Don't be scared to submit a reasonable offer to a seller, especially if the price seems outrageous. Some of these sellers make money by simply bidding low bids on everything and buying whatever they happen to win at a good price and can give you a significant discount and still make enough money that it's worth their time.