Greece 5 Lepta Coins - Original Or Replica?

They obviously have the appearance of being pressure cast fakes.

The top coin has some appearance of being a cast copy. On the lower section of the raised rim outside the die face itself is a texture often seen on injection molded coins which are edged after the coin is cast.

The second coin has far fewer issues. It does appear to have been made from the same die pair after a cursory review.

So while I am leaning toward the coins being genuine I would do some serious checking. First I would go to an authoritative source to see what the weight parameters were. Second a detailed side by side review of the coins looking for any die or mold variations. The chance of one die in both cases is iffy so I would next check to see if the mint which produced these coins had hub capability or not. Notes I have read indicate that some Greek coins were made in Paris so they may have been hubbed - but I would want to be SURE. There is no A on the coins which I would expect to see on a Paris product.

Regarding the edge reeding - I see some irregularitles but I would need much clearer, larger photos before condemning them.

I would also check the alloy used. Genuine coins should be copper - here a hand held XRF could tell if the coins are copper - brass or bronze. They look like bronze to me but color is deceptive.

The ebay example looks far more reassuring to me, especially in the fields.

Welcome Nikos you are the first person I have run into who is an expert on Greek coinage. Perhaps you can answer the questions I raised in this thread.
1. Were the 5 Lepta coins made in 1833 struck from hubbed dies?
2. Were coins struck in Paris for use in Greece marked with the mint mark A?
3. Were the 5 Lepta coins made with pure copper?
4. How were the coins struck? In a collared press or open sided screw press?

Nickos Great information regarding the minting of the 5 Lepta coins in 1833. Hubs used to make working dies means that there is little or no permissible variation coin to coin. Since there were three mints producing the coin, can we presume all three hub sets were made in Munich (the mint with no mark). That would be common usage. The branches would add mint marks to the hubs or to individual working dies to identify their work.

The edge reeds would vary only if the collars on the various presses varied. The rarer the issue the more likely one press was used and all reeds would match.

Everyone with an interest in Greek coins should file this away.

One final question for Nikos - when did Greece start using the Munich facility for coining? In other words when did they cease using local dies made one at a time?

vasilisfla From your answer, I understand that before 1832 all Greek coins were struck from dies made by hand one at a time?