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Can You Help Indentify

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New Member

Canada
3 Posts
 Posted 12/21/2006  4:00 pm Show Profile   Bookmark this topic Add Storm to your friends list Get a Link to this Message Number of Subscribers
Hi all,

You've probably heard this story a thousand times...

I just inherited some coins and was wondering if you folks can help me indentify them, I'm having a heck of a time. I'd take them to a dealer but I'd like to know what I have before I show up.

Here's a pic of one of them.

Image: Can-You-Help-Indentify front_1.jpg
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Image: Can-You-Help-Indentify back_1.jpg
58.93 KB

Many thanks in advance.
Rest in Peace
Morgan Fred's Avatar
United States
2684 Posts
 Posted 12/21/2006  8:29 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Morgan Fred to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Storm, welcome to the forum! There's a lot of folks here with plenty of experience and expertise and the willingness to share.

I'm not at all knowledgeable on ancient coins which this appears to be, albeit heavily polished. Do you have any US coins you might be able to post?

Fred
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Sap's Avatar
Australia
16817 Posts
 Posted 12/21/2006  9:22 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Sap to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
That's a tetradrachm of the Greek colony of Syracuse, Sicily, circa 300 BC. Coins of Syracuse are one of the most attractive and popular early ancient Greek series (their early dekadrachms are considered by many collectors the most beautiful coins ever made, anywhere) - and one of the most widely copied. This one looks like Sear#971, BMC#346. Catalogue value £850 (though that's for ones in better condition than yours) if genuine, but this one looks suspicious to me - particularly the lack of detail in the low-relief parts of the design. For example the charioteer's arm seems to be disconnected from the body, and the writing is barely legible - you'd have to already know its supposed to say "SYRAKOSION" to be able to read that. Here's a similar coin from the CoinArchives site:
Can-You-Help-Indentify

Take it to a dealer to confirm it, by all means - but please don't set your hopes too high on this particular one, unless you know the person you inherited them from was an expert in ancients and/or acquired this coin from a reliable source. Make sure the dealer you take it to is an ancients expert, too.
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
New Member
Canada
3 Posts
 Posted 12/22/2006  10:26 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Storm to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Wow, thanks! Here's another.. lol, I got four in total...


Image: Can-You-Help-Indentify front_2.jpg
58.81 KB

Image: Can-You-Help-Indentify back_2.jpg
60.88 KB
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Sap's Avatar
Australia
16817 Posts
 Posted 12/22/2006  8:20 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Sap to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
That one took a bit of searching: Ainos, nowadays the European-Turkish border town of Enez.

The guy on the obverse is the Greek god Hermes. The reverse picture is upside down - that's the caduceus, symbol of Hermes/Mercury.

That's not the "usual" design for Ainian coins - they much more commonly have a goat of the reverse. Check out this search of CoinArchives - even restricting the search like that, you find lots of goats, not many caduceusses (?)

Not sure of the value - there not a close enough match for it in the catalogues. Most of the "goatless" coins seem to be small fractional silver or copper. What's the diameter and/or weight? That would give an indication of the denomination.
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
New Member
Canada
3 Posts
 Posted 12/24/2006  9:57 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Storm to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Thanks again, I think I owe someone a beer!

I'll get them weighed, and going to see about getting some better images of them somehow. I truly appreciate your opinions.
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