Allen Berman had purchased a large collection of fish coins & I selected these three. This first coin is from Cuba and depicts a gar fish. It is the large 5 Peso silver coin. I was attracted to it for the neat fish & BU grade. This second coin is from Hungary. It is also a large & flashy coin. I was attracted to the cool fish-deco design.
The third coin is an ancient: THRACE, Thasos AR Obol 435 - 411 B.C. 0.50 grams, 8 mm Obv: Two dolphins swimming opposite directions with pellet above & below Rev: Quaripartite incuse punch Grade: a VF Other: Rosen Collection 146, Lockett 1224, Ex (Lewis Egnew Collection) Superior 30 May 1995 lot 7224, Ex Harlan Berk, from Allen Berman Dec 2014. There are probably about 100 fish coins left in Allen Berman's inventory. They have not yet been picked-over. You should contact Allen directly if you are interested in them.
Is that a Swastika on the back? And that question is based on the fact that I know they used to be signs of good luck but didn't know they dated to ancient coins.
It is simply an incuse punch. The blank was placed on the obverse die & then struck with a simple punch. The punch in this case includes a quaripartite incuse design. There are various simple designs on the end of the punch which are intended (we think) to hold onto the planchet so the punch doesn't slip off the planchet when it is hit with the hammer. Here is a thread that depicts several archaic coins with simple punch reverse designs: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/incuse-punch-coins-lets-see-em.222112/
