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Alexander Tetradrachm? Identifying Marks

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swayambhunath's Avatar
United States
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 Posted 03/04/2018  02:30 am Show Profile   Bookmark this topic Add swayambhunath to your friends list Get a Link to this Message Number of Subscribers
The coin at the image address below appears genuine and was offered as such. A question for this august group:

What are these ID marks? I've looked at many of these coins but am puzzled. The area under the throne is empty.

John
www.fihp.com/AXTD.png
Edited by swayambhunath
03/04/2018 02:38 am
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echizento's Avatar
United States
23731 Posts
 Posted 03/04/2018  03:15 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add echizento to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
to the community

Please use the image upload feature provided here to upload you picture.
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swayambhunath's Avatar
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 Posted 03/04/2018  04:27 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add swayambhunath to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Thank you echizento.

Alexander-Tetradrachm?-Identifying-Marks
Alexander-Tetradrachm?-Identifying-Marks
Alexander-Tetradrachm?-Identifying-Marks
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Kamnaskires's Avatar
United States
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 Posted 03/04/2018  09:05 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Kamnaskires to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply


I believe those marks are supposed to be an interpretation of the date (in Phoenician) on issues from Ake/Akko-Ptolemais. Very crude and simplified rendition, though.

For comparison:

Alexander-Tetradrachm?-Identifying-Marks
Alexander-Tetradrachm?-Identifying-Marks
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swayambhunath's Avatar
United States
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 Posted 03/05/2018  01:00 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add swayambhunath to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Thank you Bob! Ake seems like a great lead. Other examples online show similar characteristics - crossed legs, throne back, dotted staff with spear tip, and date marks. If the marks read Civic Year 52 that would be 263 BCE about...

Here's an enlargement of the marks if anyone has further ideas:
Alexander-Tetradrachm?-Identifying-Marks
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echizento's Avatar
United States
23731 Posts
 Posted 03/05/2018  01:28 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add echizento to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
I have some concerns about this coin being genuine. The right arm and eagle look flat like they have been compressed along with the left foot and folds of the cloth. It would be nice if we could see the edge of the coin, but it's in a bezel so that's not possible.

One good point is that I don't see any outward signs of it being cast. It may very well be a genuine coin and I'm just being overly cautious.
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swayambhunath's Avatar
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 Posted 03/05/2018  01:43 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add swayambhunath to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Thanks echizento. I'm thinking about that too. It doesn't look like any of the Bulgarian dies I've found yet, at least...

That right arm is odd. Up close it looks almost like chisel marks. Is that sort of clipping known in these coins?
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swayambhunath's Avatar
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 Posted 03/05/2018  03:14 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add swayambhunath to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Pictures with the bezel removed:


Alexander-Tetradrachm?-Identifying-Marks
Alexander-Tetradrachm?-Identifying-Marks
Alexander-Tetradrachm?-Identifying-Marks
Alexander-Tetradrachm?-Identifying-Marks
Alexander-Tetradrachm?-Identifying-Marks
Alexander-Tetradrachm?-Identifying-Marks
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echizento's Avatar
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 Posted 03/05/2018  07:09 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add echizento to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
I don't know. The coin varies in thickness which is a good sign, however I see what looks like a seem in some area's of the edge which raises red flags. I can't say if it's genuine or not just from the pictures. I haven't checked the fake coin sites yet but I will.
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 Posted 03/05/2018  08:30 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add FVRIVS RVFVS to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
I agree that there are some things that bother me here.
The relief is sharp ! Yet it is unusually flat. The extended arm shows a strange flatness to an otherwise high relief.
Almost as if the coin relief were flattened by being rubbed on emery paper.
It does not show the 'elegant' relief of typical examples.
It could be real
But I hesitate to endorse it either
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 Posted 03/05/2018  08:34 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add FVRIVS RVFVS to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Taking a long second look
I don't like it
I see scratches in field areas that should be immune to scrapes. The fields show no sign of the smoothness that should be apparent.
Those two put together lead me to a thumbs down opinion
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antwerpen2306's Avatar
Belgium
1194 Posts
 Posted 03/05/2018  09:31 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add antwerpen2306 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
I do not think it is an original tetradrachm of Alexander , but more a contemporary imitation , or even a little bid later .
The style of the coin is not correct : first the form , normally round , here more oval . The hair of Zeus is not correct , nor the hand around the scepter .The chair , very important for this tetradrachms , is wrong , to much explicit dots , as in the inscription were the alpha , the lambda and the delta are represented in the same way .
What are the sizes of this coin ? Isn' t it a fourree ? albert
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swayambhunath's Avatar
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 Posted 03/05/2018  10:09 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add swayambhunath to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Weight 16.70 g. Dimensions 27 mm at the largest, 24.5 mm at the smallest.

Is the spalling above Heracles' ear and at the rim to the left of that indicative of anything?
Edited by swayambhunath
03/05/2018 10:15 am
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antwerpen2306's Avatar
Belgium
1194 Posts
 Posted 03/05/2018  10:21 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add antwerpen2306 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
sizes ok .
What is the color inside the spalling , at the rim of the ear and on the border left at 9 h .Is it silver ? albert
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swayambhunath's Avatar
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 Posted 03/05/2018  10:33 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add swayambhunath to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Hi antwerpen. The inner surface of the spalls is the same black as the unrubbed parts of the rest of the coin.
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