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 Replies: 9 / Views: 1,047 |
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Pillar of the Community
Turkey
870 Posts |
(short version of the story is as follows!) Guys, I have no knowledge about ancient coins. I just collect the moderns. However, I have a huge garden. Several years ago, I was preparing a bed for some tulips and other bulbed flowers, and I digged about a 1,5m to 10 mt flowerbed, with a depth of 40-50 cm's (to prepare a good soil) and I hit into a dry, sandy layer and removed it all (it was about several bags full of sand, when I am finished, and took all my day). Good thing about all that manual labor is, I found three coins inside the sand, and they looked like ancient coins. I didn't clean them, I just took them to a dealer friend of mine, and he said they look fake. I throw them inside a ziploc bag and they stayed in there for several years...until now! I recently come across them, and when I have the silvery-looking one, it felt like real silver to me, so I examined closer, and checked onlien what coin it might be..a quick search revealed that it looks to be a Roman coin indeed. Perhaps I am wrong, perhaps they're not real at all. Please do see the photos and help me to decide. Real or not, I will be keeping them because they have a story. :) [URL="http:// (Offsite URL shortening not allowed-9) /c25MCx]  [/url] [URL="http:// (Offsite URL shortening not allowed-9) /c25MCx]  [/url] [URL="http:// (Offsite URL shortening not allowed-9) /c25MCx]  [/url] [URL="http:// (Offsite URL shortening not allowed-9) /c25MCx]  [/url] [URL="http:// (Offsite URL shortening not allowed-9) /c25MCx]  [/url] |
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Moderator
 United States
23731 Posts |
Excellent find, they are all real. The first as you know id Gordian III and the other two are Byzantine Class B Anomymous Folles attributed to Romanus III 1028-1034.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3446 Posts |
Very nice find. Not worth a huge amount of money but well worth keeping !
The Byzantines are actually in fairly good condition. For a non collector Byzantines can be puzzling.
Very often with the bronze issues they did not look so good to begin with.
If the other people here had your yard it would be quite a mess. Piles of dirt and sand everywhere !
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Pillar of the Community
 Turkey
870 Posts |
Thank you! I had a feeling they may be so. My house is located close to a road, that used to be the main road connecting Istanbul (Constantinople)to the Balkans. It's actually used to be a main stop for armies and Merchant caravans because it is roughly one day's walk / ride to the old city. I occasionally come across broken clay jars, small pottery fragments or so while doing gardenwork or gathering soil, etc, around the house. Coins are a first though.
I always envied circulation in the US because occasionally you come across a 50's or 60's or even an earlier coin. Now, karma is paying me back for being a good collector. :)
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Moderator
United States
23731 Posts |
If you have a lot of land you may want to consider getting a metal detector. Your country has so much ancient history, there is no telling what you may find.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4981 Posts |
what a cool find! I'm envious of you guys that have an opportunity to find cool stuff like that.
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Pillar of the Community
Turkey
870 Posts |
Thanks guys, actually metal detecting is not allowed in many parts of Turkey. The findings below ground, even hordes are considered as belonging to the state. This is, probably because of that stupid law, many people WHO deliberately or accidentally find gold or silver coins from bygone ages got them melted only for the precious metal content(at least stories and myths like that were too common back in the 80's and 90's).
Buying, selling and collecting ancient coins is also strictly monitored. You need to register to a museum, or a state organisation if you wish to do so. It's all bureucracy, and it is a very outdated 1940's law, which collectors are hoping to see it change in the foreseen future.
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
946 Posts |
Well they look real.
It is an old trick for antique dealers when given an item to valuate to say "it is common/not popular/fake" in order to get the item for nothing/a few pennies.
You live in the Trakya part of Turkey, not in Istanbul of course. Certainly it would not be far fetched to find the "anonymous folles" of the Byzantine era deep in the soil around the region of Istanbul.
I can understand why the government of Turkey seeks to save their heritage as so much of it was taken away or sold very cheaply to adventurers from the West in the Ottoman era.
But for coins, well, if they have something like we have in Britain (The Portable Antiquities Scheme) where finders of ancient coins can send their finds or just a good photo of their coins, to be recorded on the database.
Unless it is no more than 5 coins ( = a Hoard) then the finder keeps them and can do as they like.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3446 Posts |
My friend from Armenia had many tales of found hoards. The laws in the then Soviet Union were even worse. His towns favorite story was about a small group of men who stumbled upon a golden treasure in the 'hills'. Once they had split up the 'loot' of course the wives got involved and an argument ensued. Then the neighbors wanted in or else ! The story ends with 'men in black' showing up in town and some enhanced interrogations and when the dust had settled ....... Life went on much the same as always. The gold of course was never to be seen again. We often forget how lucky some of us are.
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
946 Posts |
Oh dear FR!
Well, it seems typical of the then Soviet Armenia, well maybe modern Armenia too, if not all ex-Soveit Block countries.
I remember when I was in Armenia in 2010, visiting the ruins of the Urartuan fortress of "Erebuni" and my friend told me about how gold jewellery found in the excavations of "Erebuni" were stored at a Bank and how a local Bigshot managed to get some of the jewellery from the Bank, for free, to give to his wife.
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Replies: 9 / Views: 1,047 |
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Posted 01/18/2014 3:55 pm
