Help Identify These Greek Coins - Coin Community Forum

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Author	Replies: 8 / Views: 264
Mavro New Member United States 4 Posts	Posted 07/05/2026 10:51 pm Hi! Can you help me identify these 4 coins? Top Left: 25-26mm diameter 4.3mm thick 12gram weight Top Right: 27-28mm diameter 4.8mm thick 11.6gram weight Bottom Left: 31-32mm diameter 4mm thick 12.9gram weight Bottom Right: 32-33mm diameter 6.5mm thick 23.5gram weight All non-magnatic, sounds high pitch when tapping against other coins, so I believe bronze? * Edited by Staff to crop and/or rotate images. In the future, please crop and correctly orient images before uploading. * First two lines of the Upload Form Report this Post to the Staff

Spence Moderator United States 34450 Posts	Posted 07/06/2026 07:31 am @mav, first welcome to CCF. Second, I'd be interested to hear how you came upon these pieces. To my eye the mushy details, off-metal composition, and odd abrasions on the edge make these all look like fakes. "If you climb a good tree, you get a push." -----Ghanaian proverb "The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed." -----King Adz Report this Post to the Staff
jbuck Moderator United States 190135 Posts	Posted 07/06/2026 11:34 am to the Community! Coin Collector Since 1978 Avatar Old Avatar 7070 Eisenhower Australia Canada World CCF Members on eBay CCF eBay Search Engine Report this Post to the Staff
Mavro New Member United States 4 Posts	Posted 07/06/2026 11:43 am Thanks! On our trip to Greece/Istanbul in 2002 my dad bought them. That's what I've been trying to determine, I've looked at lots of photos of these types of coins and they all seem to be different so hard to really get a sense of what is real or not. Also, doesn't seem like there is much value even if these were real, so it seems odd they would fake them, but anything is possible. Let me know if these side view photos work -- this could be helpful for others in the future. Report this Post to the Staff
louisvillekyshop CCF Advertiser United States 1310 Posts	Posted 07/06/2026 2:28 pm It seems like any coins from Morocco on ebay are like these and fake. So it makes sense where they were obtained from. Sorry, there is a a group that makes them and they always look like this exactly. Report this Post to the Staff
Mavro New Member United States 4 Posts	Posted 07/07/2026 9:48 pm These are from Istanbul (but allegedly Greek coins), not Morocco, but I get the point. How do I officially determine they are fake vs real... would a local coin shop know or just not worth it in general and keep them as small paper weights? Thanks again! Report this Post to the Staff
livingwater Pillar of the Community United States 2262 Posts	Posted 07/07/2026 10:23 pm In my opinion these are all modern fake Greek coins commonly sold at tourist shops. It's been illegal for decades to sell ancient coins and antiquities in Turkey, some of Europe, Egypt, Italy etc. Where it's legal genuine ancient coins are found and sold. But sometimes they are smuggled out. In Turkey there are heavy fines or jail time for selling or exporting genuine ancient coins/antiquities. I don't know about top left one. The top right is a commen Herakles with seated Zeus reverse struck at several Greek city mints. Bottom left is of Greek ruler Lysimochos but this type was struck in silver and not bronze as far as I know. The bottom right I think is an imitation Athens silver tetradrachm Athena and owl reverse. Most coin stores don't deal with ancients and would not be able to help. There may be a coin club in your area with an ancient coin collector that could look at them. There's another site that is just for ancient coins, Forum Ancient Coins, you could join and post them there. On ebay there's a mix of genuine and fake modern and ancient coins. A collector should learn and buy from trusted dealers. Here is pic of a roadside booth selling cast fake ancient coins in Turkey. Edited by livingwater 07/08/2026 07:59 am Report this Post to the Staff
Sap Moderator Australia 16873 Posts	Posted 07/08/2026 10:05 am As Livingwater said, in Turkey, selling genuine ancient coins to tourists is illegal. There is a long, convoluted process by which certain antiquities can be removed from Turkey through official channels, but it takes months, with reams of paperwork and government archaeologists certifying them as non-essential and whatnot. Someone in Turkey with ancient coins to sell wouldn't trust tourists as a means to smuggle them out of the country illegally, because the "tourists" might be government agents in disguise. However, in Turkey, it's perfectly legal to sell fake ancient coins to tourists. The fakes are usually of a quality whereby anyone actually familiar with ancient coins (or government agents) will not be fooled by them - it would not be good for business if a tourist were to end up languishing in a Turkish prison for months while the authenticity of the fake coins was being tested. For example, in the case of the coins in the OP, all four of them have designs of ancient Greek silver coins, yet these are clearly not made of silver. Top left: tetrobol of Ainos Top right: tetradrachm of Alexander the Great Bottom left: tetradrachm of Lysimachus of Thrace Bottom right: "new style" tetradrachm of Athens. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis Report this Post to the Staff
Mavro New Member United States 4 Posts	Posted 07/08/2026 3:20 pm This is all great feedback -- what an great forum! So, based on all this feedback, we can be confident these are fakes. Report this Post to the Staff
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