A Picture of an Apple Pie versus an Apple Pie They might be genuine, but I have doubts. It is hard to tell from a scan, always. However, I have seen many of these kinds of copies and that is what these seem to be. However, my doubts aside, the only way I know to know is to see and touch the coin. The big one is a sestertius of Vespasian and it commemorates JUDEA CAPTA, "Captive Judea" i.e., the reduction of the Jewish state by Rome. You can see several examples here: http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/sear5/s2325.html The smaller coins would each be called a "prutot" (Hebrew) or "lepton" (Greek). The one that reads KAICA is "Caesa(r)" but I cannot make out the name. TIB (Tiberius) or NEPON (Nero) would be expected, perhaps. The one with the "umbrella" (anchor) is another local copper issue. These are widely copied because the coins are important to Jews and Christians alike. I have some copies from a museum gift shop. Made of plated pot medal, the look OK and feel all wrong. The sestertius, the big one, would weigh about 27 grams, a titch heavier than a US Silver Dollar, nearly one ounce.
Wow. Thanks a lot. I can tell you right now that the big one is much lighter than an American silver dollar. I'll break out the old powder scale and see what the big one weighs. Again, thanks. You probably saved me from further embarassment. I would eventually have taken the coin somewhere for proper identification. 155.0 grains = 10.05 grams You are a gentleman and a scholar.
Hi. I am not sure about the coin from the right, but Vespasian and the second coin are quite poor fakes. Even without knowing its weight. I am not a specialist in ancients, just a beginning collector, but they are screaming fakes even to me.
The first two coins are too well centred to be original roman coins, and the images are way to clear for the type of patina it contains. Patina? is pretty thin for this coin and too light for what ive seen and collected.
