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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;heuvy31, post: 1817444, member: 42173&quot;]My mother in law has the same coin.&nbsp; Here is some info on it.</p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/wfkgel.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>This Gela tetradrachm has been the subject of more inquiries to me than any other &#039;coin&#039; since I have started this site. This particular copy was produced as an advertisement for a book on Ancient Greece and was sent to thousands of addresses glued to a paper ad. My memory tells me that this was a Reader&#039;s Digest book but the correctness of this memory and the date will require confirmation. Please help if you recall this promotion or bought the book they advertised. (Thanks to the friend who sent me a picture of two of these glued to a paper calling them &#039;golden coins&#039; but not identifying the book. I still need help here.) The copy is clearly stamped &#039;copy&#039; but many I have seen have been scraped to remove these recessed letters. The item was produced by casting and no effort was made to remove the seams along the edges where the two halves of the mold were joined. Our illustration includes edge images of two examples. The characteristic loss of sharpness and bubbled surface of cast fakes are clear on these coins. About the thickness and diameter of a US quarter, these copies are much too thin for the Gela coins they imitate. The pot metal castings were treated to produce a dark patina. Since the item was clearly marked and circulated as a copy, there can be no fault found with the publisher. Unfortunately, a percentage of these found their way into hands of persons with larceny in mind. They are often seen for sale in antique shops</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Here is a link to the whole article <a href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/fake.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/fake.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/fake.html</a>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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