Tyrian sheckel, about the size of a quarter and should be say 14.2-14.6 grams, faked all over the world, this is the popular 30 pieces of silver paid to Judas, these were like the Maria Theresa thaler of the day, 100's of thousands were made for Rome alone..for $10 my guess is fake, should be closer to $200-400.
Thanks, i may bid on it, its at around $10 and about a day left i think. if it goes much higher, i might drop out just because of not being sure if it is genuine. if it is real, it should be silver?
The item is not a fake Tyrian shekel but a fake tetradrachm of one of the later Ptolemies from the Paphos mint. It appears to be year dated LP which means year 100 but all these I have seen were figured in the regnal year of the ruler and no one made it to year P = 100. Perhaps the letter was a B = 2 with the bottom part damaged. There are many fakes of these and no reason to assume they are silver just because the originals were. I am not at all skilled in separating the Ptolemies from VI to XII so I'll leave that to someone else.
The group of coins shown there are shekels of Tyre bearing the reverse legend TΥΡOΥ IEΡAΣ KAI AΣΥΛOΥ (of Tyre the holy and inviolable) and the head of the god Melquart. The picture is not all that sharp so I'll suggest looking at a close up of one of these coins where the legend can be read (starting at the top right): http://www.acsearch.info/search.html?similar=4956 Many Ptolemies used the eagle reverse but a different style and the reverse legend ΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙΟΥ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ (Ptolemy the king) or ΠTOΛEMAIOY ΣΩTHPOΣ (Ptolemy the savior) and a portrait of the king. Yours has the king legend. http://www.acsearch.info/search.html?similar=1245566 While both coins are reasonably common, the Tyre coins are in considerable demand at higher prices because of the Bible link (both the tax coin from the fish and the money paid to Judas). Both coins are extensively faked. Bid if you wish. Then try to sell the coin to a specialist dealer in ancient coins. That should answer your questions.
