Hi gang! As you may or may not know I am a novice at best when it comes to this type of stuff tho I see it quite regularly. I know there are a lot of reproductions and counterfeits out there so I want to get this checked out. I don't see any seams on the coin to indicate casting to me... but I'll defer to the experts. Thanks!
I don't like it. Not a cast fake, definitely. But the style is slightly aberrant, particularly if you compare the eyes. On all of the others I've seen, the eyes are much more expressive. Also, with 99% of these, the reverse is in a square incuse, like on the tetradrachms of Athens. Also, it seems too round (as silly as that may seem). And the uniform thickness matches with what I would expect from a pressed fake. In case you weren't sure, its from Itanos, Crete. Some others (SNG Lockett notes only a didrachm and drachm): http://www.acsearch.info/record.html?id=30091 - drachm http://www.acsearch.info/record.html?id=99380 - stater http://www.acsearch.info/record.html?id=144794 - drachm http://www.s110120695.websitehome.co.uk/SNG/sng_reply2a.php?verb=SNGuk_0300_2573 - didrachm http://www.s110120695.websitehome.co.uk/SNG/sng_reply2a.php?verb=SNGuk_0300_2574 - drachm
Hmm. A bit smaller than I expected. Could be a diobol or some subdenomination. But the acsearch auction records and the online British volumes of SNG don't show anything smaller than a drachm, weighing about 5.27g.
Thank you. Being unfamiliar, my first inclination was that it was early empire Greek, and than I questioned myself.
Coming into this thread I was leaning more towards a non genuine piece. From my experiences the piece did look just a little too round compared with pieces I know are genuine. Thanks for the help!
I concur with your opinion that it is not cast, but rather struck. The lines coming from the centre of the piece also suggest that it was not hand struck, but rather in a press where the metal spreads out much more and causes those striations. Hand struck coins usually have very little portions of striations because they are hammered quickly with not a lot of metal redistributing and spreading out across the die like on press struck pieces. Press struck pieces are also going to have more uniform circular shapes.
Gordianus Pius Denarius? Here is supposedly a Denarius of Gordianus Pius I picked up on ebay. Any opinions on whether it is real or not? The image looks plausible, on the other hand the fact that it is not smooth and shiny may indicate casting. How can one tell?
That looks legit from the picture (the surface looks like the rough surface of a porous ancient to me more than a cast coin), though you might want confirmation from someone who is more experienced than me. The coin is actually an antoninianus (worth 2 denarii), and the emperor is Gordian III (in case there was any confusion about which Gordian it was on there).
Not sure about that Traci. In those times antoniniani were stil of "good metal" around 40 or 50 % silver. In the second half of the third century they turned to be of base metal "washed" with silver. Have a look at what they still look like at that period Q
My inclination is to doubt the piece for a couple reasons but nothing this nice should go down without being seen in person. There is a knowledgable ancient coin dealer in Anderson but this coin, if genuine, is worth enough it would be better shown to someone at Harlen Berk in Chicago. The Gordian is much abused but probably OK. You can never really tell when a coin is that beat up but either way it is not worth much.
