Favorite coin all year: Lipara off Sicily AE Hemilitron ft. Hephaestus

I recently obtained a rare (to me) coin that I had never seen before, from an island I didn't know existed and depicting a god I wasn't aware was ever portrayed on a coin. It is from the small island of Lipara (Lipari), off the northern coast of Sicily, and at 14 square miles is the the largest of the little Aeolian Islands. Its modern residents mine and export the volcanic pumice of the island, and import thousands of tourists during the Summer.

I've only come across 3 essentially matching coins for this die pair, though all are considerably lighter at 3.55g-4.30g, and on narrower flans:

From https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=278202

From https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=285693

From https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=210983


The information provided wasn't exactly comprehensive and I have no relevant hard-copy references, but here goes:

Lipara, Sicily. Æ Hemilitron ~350 (or 412-408, or late 3rd C. ) BC. 5.43 g, 19mm. Hephaestus seated right on legged bench, holding kantharos in his outstretched left hand, pick-like hammer in his lowered right hand; in field, pellet. Rev. (I presume the "M" is some sort of strange ligature for ΛΙ?) ΛΙΠΑΡΑΙΩΝ around six pellets in two rows. Calciati I, 15, 20. SNG Evelpidis 720.



It has old dirt and encrustation remaining on the edges and within the cracks, though appears to have never needed much cleaning to begin with. The surfaces, detail and centering on a big flan are all superb which makes me suspicious if nor no other reason than it being nicer than the 3 auctioned examples and rather higher-tier than I usually handle, but since no records of Lipara fakes of this general style of hemilitron let alone this die pair were found I really hope it's legit.

The exceptionally bold ethnic along with the 6 prominent denomination pellets make the reverse truly awesome to behold, and the obverse depiction of poor lame Hephaestus seated holding his hammer, and in-hand displaying his pectorals as well as rib cage, face, and subtle delineation between his separate thighs makes it such a cool coin, especially since I dabble in blacksmithing and metal-casting and appreciate a fellow smith, even if he sits-down on the job!

I suppose the young volcanic nature of the island didn't go unnoticed by the Greek inhabitants, so depicting him on some of their coins was a sensible albeit uncommon choice.

A fun bonus that shared Hephaestus' journey to me was a little silver that wasn't properly identified (presumably) and is apparently a rather rare Litra from Himera:

Himera, Sicily AR Litra ~420-410 BC. 0.50g, 11mm. HIMEPAIΩN at right, head of Herakles right wearing leontè. Rev. Facing Athena, holding shield and spear.



I think I'll be focusing much more on Sicilian coins, the more I get the more I love 'em!

Please feel free to share any related coins, or insights/information even if it's bad news.

 

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Well...

The other examples do overlay perfectly but I have concerns. It's hard to tell much in the small low resolution images. What do those flan cracks look like in person? Are they smooth and filled inside, or are they believable? Did you buy the coin from an experienced dealer?

I'd love for it to be authentic but have some doubts .

Here's an animation of an outline of the Kunker coin over yours:


And here are edited images of your coin. The obverse dotted border looks oddly faint and the cracks look filled but it's hard to say from these images.

 

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=278202
And
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=210983

Same flan shape and edge cracks and same green corrosion spot 5 o clock on obverse at dotted border. The difference in weight is due to missing diligerance in weighting a coin 3.66 g and 3.55 g !

Both the same coin !

Your Lipara coin was sold together with the Himera litra on ebay by fiordaliso

Himera litra looks authentic in pictures no warranty, there are many transfer die fakes of Sicilian lirae on the market.

https://www.ebay.de/itm/TARENTUM-TARAS-SILVER-LITRA-OBOL-RARE-HERCULES-WITH-LION/202510564961?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

I can not find the ebay listing for the Lipara but I have saved the pictures.
I was bidding on it too suspecting it to be a transfer die fake (for fake collection), seller has mainly authentic coins but some of his coins are most likely fake.
I can not tell from pictures if you Lipara is authentic or not need to see the patina in hand if artificial or not. The other way would be a die study will all known examples.

If your coin is authentic you made a very good deal for that price.

 

Thank you both! @TIF The dotted border on the obverse is indeed faint, but it's basically all there. Thank you for the animated .gif and corrected images, I'll try to take some better natural light photos. The cracks are believable and largely clogged with crud, and under 60x magnification one can see the "layers" of patina near either side of the cracks which, assuming authenticity, would have been removed from the surfaces when cleaned. I have a hard time imagining how such a visual effect would have been faked, but forgers can be exceptionally clever. It looks like something 3 dimensional that has had a few layers of old paint removed, but the recessed areas where the paint remains displays the cross-section, if that analogy makes any sense. I'm sure I could scrape out the crud and clean-out the cracks but don't want to mess with it at this point.

A more hopeful observation is the minor patina-smoothing in the fields, but lack of final-stage cleaning/smoothing in-between the dotted border on the reverse and mushroomed edge, or in the smaller areas like in-between Hephaestus' right arm and torso, where the surfaces seem a bit dirtier and rougher, but that isn't particularly useful diagnostically.

As @Lolli shared they are from an eBay seller who is not a professional dealer. They are slowly selling off their collection, prior coins obtained from them seem fine and I get no "bad vibes" from them personally, but I was consciously aware that they themselves may have inadvertently bought fakes for their collection which are now being sold. Some of their Corinthian staters looked a bit sketchy to me. I also thought that it would have been crafted with transfer dies if it is a fake, but was unable to find any reported examples or discussion on someone's excellent blog detailing other Lipara fakes. There always has to be a "first" though, and certainly not all fakes are documented. And I should have noticed that the 2 coins were the same, I was too busy looking at the details that I didn't look at the overall coin. Couldn't see the forest for the trees.

 

I would assume a pressed fake. If real you paid 10% or less of what one would have sold for at a major auction in this condition. The listing is still visible.



As far as artificial patinas, https://www.google.com/amp/s/numism...om/2016/05/22/the-fake-coinage-of-lipara/amp/
shows quite a few.

 

Alright, I've got some better pictures. If it's fake, the value of the Himera Litra oughta cover the cost of the lesson. I've gotten spoiled by obtaining special antiquities at good prices from diggers who don't know what they have but shouldn't expect the same in the far more dangerous and competitive world of coins. Anyway, in these pics you can see apparent patina-smoothing in fields and the crud in the cracks, some of which kinda show the somewhat laminated appearance I saw under magnification. There also appears to be a small spot of bronze disease on the edge. On some of the high points the black copper oxide (or artificial patina) seems to have flaked off, like on Hephaestus' right leg and the letters of the ethnic.

@David@PCC Yes that blog is what I had came across as well. They seem to really know their stuff, so I will probably need to impose upon them for an opinion.




I appreciate your opinions, even if they break my heart ( )

 

Your new pictures at least convince me that it isn't a cast forgery . Like David, I worry about it possibly being a pressed forgery but I am not an expert. Are you considering sending to David Sear for an opinion?

 

Yes TIF, unless confident opinions regarding its nature or other pressed examples arise beforehand, I'll need to enlist the "big guns" and get it looked at.

In other happier and less ambiguous news, I have obtained straight from the digger in the Caucasus a rare Bronze-Age spearhead with free open buttressed blade, complete with dirt, patina, roots in the socket and ham-handed shovel damage! I've wanted a spearhead like this for some time, now I got one, wahoo!