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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 4995232, member: 19463&quot;]In my younger and less well informed days I bought the coin below from a dealer I later discovered to be a crook who sold me more than one fake.&nbsp; He is dead now.&nbsp; This coin was interesting too me because it has a test cut that is silvered below.&nbsp; The coin was made (cast) with a test cut and then silver plated to look like a coin that had been tested and passed since the bottom of the cut was silvered.&nbsp; The seller claimed it was an Emergency issue.&nbsp; It was not.&nbsp; I paid too much.&nbsp; </p><p>[ATTACH=full]1199534[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>A few years later, I bought the coin below from an honest dealer (Victor England) identified as the piece of junk it is but labeled &#039;Found in Israel&#039;.&nbsp; The style is not correct for Athens so the Israel label seemed reasonable.&nbsp; I believe it was also made with the cut and then plated but there is less of the plating left in the cut.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1199536[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Once I owned a third, even worse than these which I traded to a person that I knew understood the meaning of fourree and still shows it on his page on the subject.&nbsp; There will always be differences of opinion on the exact status of coins like these.&nbsp; The actual coins of the Emergency issued officially are extremely collectable but 99.9% of the plated owls we see were not made in the real mint and either the product of counterfeiters or Eastern copy mints (many are both).&nbsp; To be of the official Emergency issue, the style needs to be what was current in Athens c.406 BC.&nbsp; Svoronos shows seven he considered official from a hoard found in Athens.&nbsp; None of mine are correct. I do consider them interesting but will be buying no more.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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