Hello there one and all.... I have inherited a series of coins, and would like some help identifying two coins from the set. (Plenty more to follow...) What I'm interested in is this: What is it? Where can I get it authenticated? What would be the value? Any info would be greatly appreciated.
The first is a Dekadrachm of Syracuse and probably the most frequently faked ancient coin. This is a good looking one. It could (10% chance???) even be genuine but people like me don't expertise $20k coins from little photos. The other is a tetradrachm of Antimachos the Indo-Greek king. He is probably in the top ten most often faked coins but not as bad as the larger dekadrachm. It is worn so would probably only bring $1k if genuine. Chance? 10%??? Neither coin should be sold except by or through a major dealer in ancient coins. If sold 'privately' and the coin is genuine, you will get a fraction of the price it would bring certified by a major seller. If a fake, you would be cheating the buyer. The coins should be shown in person to a major dealer (where are you?) or sent to David Sear for certification. http://www.davidrsear.com/certification.html It would cost more than a fake is worth to mail it to Sear so I'd start by getting some idea from someone who has seen the coin in person that it has any chance of being real. From the photos you just can not tell it is good. From the photos, I do not see them as obviously fake but such poor photos will not separate out high quality fakes. This page shows a few (all fake): http://www.forumancientcoins.com/fakes/thumbnails.php?album=10&page=19 It is extremely unusual for genuine examples of such coins just turning up in the hands of someone who does not know what they are. If the belonged to grandpa and he was known to be a major collector, he should have left instructions. The other possibility is that they are stolen. Of the choices, fake is the most pleasant. I'd feel bad telling you that the coins are fake based only on what we see in the photos but if I were buying, I'd not offer over fake price for them.
They could be fakes. If they are, then the kids can play with them right.... :mouth: They were located in an envelope that read: Roman/Greek coins. Who knows.... Here are a couple of other coins that were in the envelope....
