Wow, I Had To Have This One!

If you are right Bob you have done me a service, no need to feel bad.

Other opinions welcome, is the coin good or bad?

Well I was given a refund, since I am a bit of a sceptic I couldn't bring myself to believe again in the coin. The dealer did give me a full and frank explanation though and examples of these faults on known coins. The holes do seem to appear on a few of this kind of coin, die breaks on others but in combination they just give me uneasy feelings.

In part of his extensive email he gave me the following information:
Arguments in favor of the coin:

1) it was bought from a reputable auction house (Jean Elsen, located in Brussel). But this is of course not a 100% valid argument since auction houses can make mistakes too.

2) As an attachment I send you some pictures of Arados drachms that depict the same features:

- in the file Arados 2.jpg you'll see a coin that has a distinct line across the field, which is the result of a die break. The lines on the coin in question might be the result of this too as I don't see anything suspicious on the edge of the coin.

- in the files Arados 3.jpg and Arados 4.jpg you see two coins that have similar small holes on raised areas as the coin in question. In the file Arados 3 you can see the holes on the letters on the reverse. In the file Arados 4 you can see the holes both on the letters on the reverse and on the dotted border on the obverse.



Arguments against the coin

1) the lines and holes you mention

2) a certain crude style

3) the feeling that something might not be right (result of 1 and 2)



All said and done, I personally do think it is a genuine coin (it is actually better in hand than the photo's show).

But since I can't be 100% sure and this coin clearly is subject to discussion for reasons I do understand, I propose to do the following in order to avoid any disappointment:

- I refund you your money

- I ship the coin to you for free. If indeed a genuine coin, which I think it is, you'll have a nice addition to your collection.

If it's not genuine, it will have cost you nothing.



P.S.: if I had already shipped the coin to you and you were having doubts about authenticity upon receiving it, you could of course have returned it for a full refund. I only want customers to be satisfied with their purchases, so that's not something I fuss about. Also, my policy in general is that my customers will always get a full refund if a coin turns out not to be authentic. Of course I try to avoid selling non authentic coins as that would ruin my reputation!

Good move, David. I commend the dealer for the professional response.

Hopefully one day soon you'll add a bee/stag to your collection, and you'll feel entirely confident about its authenticity.

I almost always hesitate to comment (on posts of silver !)

But I also had some immediate doubts.
In my mind it could be either a dud or deal ....... but the problem is I can't tell either way.
(although I learned toward nay)
So when in doubt ....... PUNT !
(unless we are talking about a measly 'ten spot')

I often withhold my comments when I see ancient silver here
I do not pretend to be knowledgeable about them and have my hands full already !

PS
I do exempt the later 'billon' coinage as to me 10% silver is really "impure" bronze

I always thought ancient silver was extraordinarily beautiful. Which is why it usually scares me off.
I try and approach silver by very simply always assuming it to be fake.
It's up to the seller to charm me into believing that "true love" is the reason for me to take out my wallet.

Love at first sight can be hazardous to your health !

I don't like the look of that edge, David. It's another worrisome feature of the coin.

Please, take a lot of images before sending the coin to the dealer...

Thanks for the info...