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Help With Coin Identification?

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Valued Member

United States
107 Posts
 Posted 03/13/2025  11:17 pm Show Profile   Bookmark this topic Add matt2442 to your friends list Get a Link to this Message Number of Subscribers
I'm wondering if anyone can help ID this coin? It is from a collection from a relative. Many are well annotated but this one is not. Thanks.



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Sap's Avatar
Australia
16334 Posts
 Posted 03/14/2025  12:26 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Sap to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
It is a bronze coin in the name of Alexander the Great; the obverse depicts Hercules in his trademark lion-shin hat, and the reverse shows the bow, quiver and club of Hercules; Alexander's name is written across the centre, in Greek (ALEXANDROY). Your reverse picture is upside-down. Here's an example of a similar coin on VCoins: https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/ar...Default.aspx

This at least is what it purports to be. So the question becomes, "Is it genuine"? I have to say I'm skeptical about it - a genuine ancient bronze coin should have quite a thick green crust of patina on it, not this thin glossy black coating that looks more like paint than patina - brassy metal is showing wearing through the coating at the high points, and it shouldn't be that easy to raise bright bare metal on an ancient bronze coin without scouring into it quite deeply.

If your relative was not an ancient coins specialist, but did travel around the world a lot, I'd be inclined to suspect this was a "tourist souvenir" replica from Greece, Turkey or Egypt.
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
Pillar of the Community
United States
1865 Posts
 Posted 03/14/2025  07:05 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add livingwater to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Sap, I agree, Macedonia, Heracles obverse, club reverse, time of Alexander the Great. These small bronzes can have different colored patinas, black, green, brown. In my opinion it could genuine, has a black patina but someone overcleaned it, taking the patina off the highlights exposing the bronze. Someone may have put a coating of lacquer on it thinking it would protect it. Some ancient coins have been treated with a protective coating especially if it has verdigris

Back in the 1980s I experimented with cleaning an ancient coin. It was all black and encrusted. I overcleaned it, stripped the patina off the highlights showing the metal underneath. Since then the exposed bronze has dulled. It's from Smyrna, Ionia, Apollo obverse, Homer seated reverse.

Edited by livingwater
03/14/2025 07:13 am
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Spence's Avatar
United States
33117 Posts
 Posted 03/14/2025  10:27 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Spence to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
@matt, can you please add a picture or two of the edge of this piece? I'd like to make sure that we don't see any evidence of a parting line. Thx.
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Valued Member
United States
107 Posts
 Posted 03/14/2025  12:48 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add matt2442 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Thanks everyone for the replies.

I will take a photo of the edge and report back. My relative was apparently a quite knowledgeable collector in the 1930s-40s. Some of these ancient coins have original envelopes from AH Baldwin or other places. This one I believe was in a plain envelope so I can't speak to the provenance. I'll try to take photos that match the in-hand look as much as possible. Thanks again.
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United States
107 Posts
 Posted 03/23/2025  9:28 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add matt2442 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Thanks again for the previous comments.

Here is a photo of the edge of the coin, as suggested by Spence. Will appreciate any additional feedback on authenticity.

Appreciate the information and apologies for my upside down Reverse photo!


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