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 Replies: 8 / Views: 18,284 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2669 Posts |
Hi all, I'm not sure this coin is even real - any inscription on the pictures I found on wildwinds is cut off if it is supposed to be there (see: http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/sg/sg0785.html). Any ideas on whether this is real or a replica, and if it's real how rare it may be?   Thanks in advance! |
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Moderator
 United States
23731 Posts |
Sorry to say but this appears to be a reproduction.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
2669 Posts |
Thanks.. that's what I was afraid of. How does one tell the difference? I did find a lot more pictures of them here: http://www.cngcoins.com/Search.aspx...0&image2.y=0 and the text is all in different places (but at least it's there on some!). You can see coins VERY similar to this one, unfortunately I just don't have the knowledge to be able to tell if something is a replica. |
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Moderator
Australia
16842 Posts |
Fake coins of this particular type seem to be turning up on this forum regularly. Somebody at some stage must have flooded the country with them. Here's an old thread about them, which points to some even older threads. It also has another pic of a genuine coin of this type, to compare it with. The main giveaway with these is the huge hole in the man-faced-bull's neck; all these copies seem to have it. These holes look similar to the holes on some modern Slavey replicas; the holes on those latter ones were placed there when the copies were made, to allow for easy attachment of pins and lugs for converting them into buttons, earrings or cufflinks. Most of the others also have "COPY" stamped onto the chariot side, which yours appears to have as well (at the bottom - I think I can read "COPY" there, anyway.  The original coins are silver; these copies all look brassy. Finally, the design is very grainy and fuzzy, and the figures on the reverse are just stick-drawing caricatures by comparison with the original. It appears to be a copy of a copy of a copy... 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
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2669 Posts |
Wow.. . All this makes me wonder why they were made - that would make a pretty interesting story on its own :)
I didn't see any mention of a geographical location of where the various copies were found.. there could be a clue in that information. Unfortunately, all my grandfather could tell me when he gave me the coin recently was that he acquired it during his Naval years, but he was all over the world, so that doesn't narrow it down much.
I don't see the "COPY" part but I'll try to zoom with the camera and see if I can pick it out. I really appreciate the informative (and patient, considering you've apparently answered this multiple times!) explanation.
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Valued Member
United States
57 Posts |
lol! I just dug one of these up Sunday 4-13 metal detecting on the Oregon Trail in SW Idaho. All I could see was the C in COPY, thought it was made in the year 100 A.D. I finally took it to a coin shop and they told me what it was. Wonder how it got on the Oregon Trail?
These copies must still be pretty old if your grandfather handed it down to you and I found one on the trail.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2669 Posts |
That's wild! I wish some of the people who had found these previously had mentioned where they found them (geographical, that is). It could help narrow down why & when they were made. I love a good mystery.
I think I'll try to pick Grandpa's brain again, just in case..
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Moderator
Australia
16842 Posts |
I believe I may have finally found an answer to where these came from (at least some of them, anyway). A couple of these items have been posted over on the FORVM fake ancient coins noticeboard, and one of them has the following note: quote:
This particular copy was produced as an advertisement for a book on Ancient Greece and was sent to thousands of addresses glued to a paper ad.
Makes sense. A "Reader's Digest" kind of thing. If they arrived with the junk mail, many would have been, well, junked. Many others would have wound up in family drawers and cupboards where they stayed until no-one could remember where they came from. 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
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2669 Posts |
It does make sense.. looks exactly like the coin above, too. They must have been sent out an awful long time ago. Makes me wonder if they had any idea of the amount of confusion they would cause...
Thanks for sharing that link!
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Replies: 8 / Views: 18,284 |
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Posted 02/03/2008 12:23 am
