Although I have learned respect and appreciation for ancients from the fine people in the Ancients Forum, I am still hopeless at picking out fakes. Saw this on e-bay and can't believe it is authentic...is it?
Looks like a hobo tetradrachm to me. (And no, there’s no such thing.) What was the description on ebay?
I've seen various imitations of Athenian coinage struck by other kingdoms and tribes (Bactrians, Arabians, etc.) but the style is completely wrong for those. I suppose it's remotely possible there's some imitation that looks like that, but... I would need to hear from an actual expert. I like the phrase "hobo tetradrachm" and that seems accurate for now.
I didn't see the listing, but I suggest: RARE! Athenian, silver, un-published type and denomination! Obverse: Athena wearing porcupine quill headdress. Reverse: Chimpanzee-faced owl. ;-)
It's a fake, pure and simple. I don't think it's even trying to pass as genuine. The details are too sharp, the patina too even, the surfaces too modern. It looks like it was pressed and not struck by dies. And the style is downright hideous.
Yes, this coin is clearly a fake. It wouldn't pass as an imitative coin or an Athenian coin, for sure. This coin also has the appearance of having just come off the press and the engraving is just downright bad. The flat surfaces on both sides are very strange and don't look like anything that supposedly was hammer struck. The imitative coins so show signs of increasingly deviating from the original design, but those changes have been documented in various hoards found over many decades, so they are well known and avidly collected.
@Kentucky, your sheer incredulity that a fake this bad could be 'real[ly as fake as it looks]' is downright refreshing!!! On ebay, you see so many screamingly fake medievals --Zero points awarded for subtlety-- that it's almost tempting to feel a little schadenfreude that the same thing is happening with ancients in the more technical sense. ...But really, the more obvious they are, the better off we are.
