BLACK SEA AREA THRACE, Mesembria AR Diobol 450-350 B.C. 1.14 grams, 10 mm Obv: Crested helmet facing Rev: M E T A in the four quarters of a radiate wheel. Grade: EF. Obverse perfectly centered & detailed. Reverse shows all details and is slightly off center. Other: Sear 1673. From Fairchester Numismatic Properties, Vincent Blume, August 2013.
BLACK SEA AREA THRACE, Apollonia Pontika AR Reduced Drachm 450-400 B.C. 2.86 grams, 13 to 14 mm Obv: Anchor with crayfish to right, A to left Rev: Gorgoneion (Gorgon) with extended tongue Grade: a gF coin with nice old toning with claims to VF with the Gorgon reverse struck off center Other: Similar to Sear 1655. From Fairchester Numismatic Properties, Vincent Blume, August 2013.
Not familiar with these. Anything related to black sea I stay away from since there is tons of excellent fakes that even fool experts. The gorgan I had a fake of and sent it back. If its real then its very nice.
I also have avoided buying coins from the Black Sea from dealers due to the number of good fakes. I nearly bought one, and came back 1 hour later to learn that it was a modern forgery...
Nice coins, Collect89 ... oh, and Ripley Yah, I also have examples of these highly faked coins (hopefully all of our examples are authentic)
I am sorry but I don't like the Metapontum coin. It looks like a match to an example from the "Black Sea Hoard" which was the name given to a supposed hoard of these types brought onto the market and sold in large numbers to dealers who were duped. Your coin seems a VERY close match to the dies used to create this documented example of one of these fakes.
Can you provide a link to this "Black Sea Hoard" where I might find more photos? Here is a collage I made from the one documented fake & my new coin. There is a very close match but there are some differences. Please let me know if there are other fake photos available on the Web.
Some examples were published in the IAPN Bulletin Of Counterfeits Vol 15, No. 1 in 1990 I had permission to add these to the Forum Fake reports. Searching for Black Sea Hoard here will turn up many examples including die links etc.:- http://www.forumancientcoins.com/fakes/index.php There are several online articles on the Black Sea Hoard though they are not all well illustrated.
I must admit that you image of the coins side by side has made me even more convinced that they are obverse die matches.
fake, real...man i can't tell the diffence. i hope yours are legit C89...but yeah, it sure does look like that fake.
I've now visited Dr. Ilya Prokopov's Fake Ancient Coin Reports on Forum & these fakes from the Black Sea Hoard have been plaguing (and fooling)the collecting hobby for a long time. The fake examples #1277 and #1289 are both really close to the sample I purchased. Perhaps they are just different planchets & different die states of the same counterfeit dies. I think this one may be going back to the dealer for credit.
The dies were modern and they were used to create hundreds of fakes. ALarm bells started rining due to their style being off and then several die matches were spotted within the hoard (obverse and reverse) but no die linkage to any other known examples. I was (and always am) reluctant to raise my concerns but given the high frequency with which these fakes still turn up I thought it worth checking the fake reports. It was only when I found what looked like a die match that I raised my concerns. I have only bought one Apollonia Pontika and have yet to try a Metapontum Obv:– Facing Gorgoneion, wearing taenia?. Rev:– Inverted anchor, crayfish left, A right Minted in Apollonia Pontika. 450 – 400 B.C. Reference:– SNG Cop 454 Bought from a well known dealer with a lifetime guarantee Martin
