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 Replies: 10 / Views: 2,450 |
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New Member
United Kingdom
4 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
842 Posts |
This is a coin minted between 100 B.C. and 14 B.C. I cannot find an exact match to it, but I have found refrences and pictures to many that resemble it. Perhaps one of the experts can weigh in. Are you around, Sap? Anyways, if it is real (and it looks good to me) it will be worth several hundred dollars. Nice coin!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2120 Posts |
Yea, I bet Sap will be able to tell us the name of the wife of the guy who paid the man to hammer the coin.
I know it looks like a joke, but hes that good. :D
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Pillar of the Community
Egypt
3470 Posts |
Yes, Sap is the man for identification of such coins and  to CC forum  |
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Moderator
 Australia
16857 Posts |
OK, I'll do my best, but it's tough working under all this pressure.  The inscription around the eagle on the coin reads, in Greek, PTOLEMAIOU BASILEOS - "King Ptolemy". It's from Ptolemaic Egypt, after the death of Alexander the Great. Unfortunately, every single male member of the family was named "Ptolemy" after their illustrious ancestor, as you can see from this Wikipedia page so the name itself doesn't help much with the ID. However, the other lettering may help. The letters to the left of the eagle read "LND". The "L" is Coptic shorthand for "year", and "ND" are greek numerals for "54". Ptolemaic coins were dated by the regnal year of the king, and there was only one "Ptolemy" who ruled for 54 years: Ptolemy VIII. Unfortunately and surprisingly, there aren't many coins of this long-lived ruler listed on the Wildwinds database, but this one is closest, dated Year 49. Year 54 would have been 117/116 BC, the last year of his reign. I did find it on the digitized Svoronos catalogue, number 1619 on this page, and picture number 9 on this page. So, the next question has to be, "is it real?". I'm seeing worrying signs - it doesn't really look silvery - and the porous appearance of the reverse could be a sign of it being a cast fake. The rims are also worrying me. If possible, can we see a picture of the coin's edge, and can we have a weight in grams, please? 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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Moderator
Australia
16857 Posts |
I should also add that while it's struck in the name of an Egyptian king, it wasn't actually struck in Egypt. At the time, the Ptolemaic dynasty also ruled Cyprus; "KI" to the right of the eagle is the mintmark for Kition. 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
802 Posts |
SAP is one amazing fellow. Wow, I guess you guys were right. I am in awe :)
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2889 Posts |
A first look of the reverse - unfortunately I too doubt the authenticity.
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New Member
 United Kingdom
4 Posts |
Gosh, that is most fascinating information! Very, very impressed indeed - and thanks for all the help so far. Here are a few more pictures. The coin weighs approx 11-12 grams.    |
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Moderator
Australia
16857 Posts |
That edge doesn't have an obvious casting seam, which is good - but it appears to have been filed or worked in some places, perhaps in an effort to remove a seam, or maybe someone had once attached something there and later it was filed away again.
The weight is also definitely on the light side - the three examples quoted for this type in Svoronos in the link I gave earlier weigh 13.8, 13.9 and 14.2 grams; the sole example of a similar type from the same year (#1620) weighs 14.0 grams. Even though, as you can see, quality control on these coins wasn't very tight, that's still enough of a weight difference to be a concern.
In other words, while the problems with the edge, weight and porosity could have innocent explanations on a genuine coin, the probability is looking more and more that your coin is not. It might still be worthwhile having an expert have a look at it in hand. Besides taking it to a coin dealer, I think the British Museum still does authentication of ancient coins for members of the public, if that's convenient for you.
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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New Member
United Kingdom
4 Posts |
Wow, thank you very much Sap and the rest of the forum members!
I will try and see what the british museum can do to help actually..and I will update you guys on here - whatever I find out.
Thanks again guys :)
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Replies: 10 / Views: 2,450 |
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Posted 06/15/2011 10:51 am
