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Message:: [QUOTE="Orielensis, post: 3976947, member: 96898"]This is a very reasonable suggestion. There is no reason to doubt Rick's story. When I was in Israel some months ago, I saw a number of shops in the old city of Jerusalem selling ancient coins as souvenirs. What they were offering ranged from high quality "biblical" silver to worn but authentic late Roman bronze. Obvious forgeries were frequently included, too. Everything was overpriced and not exactly inspiring confidence, so I didn't buy anything. For illustration, I took this picture in one of the shops – the coins in the three upper rows are probably authentic Jewish prutot and Roman provincials with artificially applied "sand patina." Below are some similar coins as well as two very badly faked Aspendos staters and an equally fake coin presumably imitating a Rhodes drachm or didrachm. [ATTACH=full]1046771[/ATTACH] Both your Antioch tetradrachm and the shekel you posted in the other thread aren't such tourist-grade forgeries. As others have stated above, they generally look good and could well be authentic. Yet, to be certain, you will have to have an expert closely look at them in hand. David Sear is a good option, NGC Ancients is another if you don't mind the slab. The low-key way of getting an expert opinion would be to show them to a trustworthy ancients dealer at the next nearby coin show.[/QUOTE]