Ancient Roman? Coins | 2 Counterfeit/Fake Greek, 2 Genuine Roman

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Author	Replies: 6 / Views: 3,027
CaptainFwiffo Pillar of the Community United States 4132 Posts	Posted 08/09/2011 2:19 pm I am on vacation visiting family, and my brother and I were digging through our old coin collection from when we were kids. He had about a dozen ancient coins he was given by our Uncle at some point, and most were unlabeled. I know nothing about ancients, but we've been able to figure out a couple with some Googling. This is one that has me stumped. I was able to puzzle out that the reverse is Jupiter seated holding Victory, but that seems to be a very common image. It's a big coin, larger diameter than a Sacagawea dollar, but smaller than a half dollar. It seems to be silver. Sorry about the crappy pictures; I'm away from my equipment and didn't want to take it out of the 2x2 without another one on hand to put it back in to. Identified - moved to Ancients forum - Sap Report this Post to the Staff

CaptainFwiffo Pillar of the Community United States 4132 Posts	Posted 08/09/2011 2:45 pm Here's another one; it seems to be denarius-sized. Report this Post to the Staff
Sap Moderator Australia 16837 Posts	Posted 08/09/2011 6:43 pm Neither are Roman. The top one says "BASILEWS LYSIMAChOY" in Greek - King Lysimachus of Thrace, one of the successors of Alexander. The seated figure is not Zeus/Jupiter; he's always bearded and bare-chested, never armoured and helmeted. This is Athena. The second one is a design I'll never forget, thanks to this old thread - a silver numos from Velia, a Greek colony in Italy not far from Rome. Unfortunately, like the Velia example in the above thread, I believe both of these coins may be cast fakes. Is there any trace of a seam around the edge? 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 Report this Post to the Staff
CaptainFwiffo Pillar of the Community United States 4132 Posts	Posted 08/09/2011 9:47 pm Yeah, most of the "silver" ones appear to have seams, which I didn't notice at first because they're in 2x2s. They all appear to have the same surface quality and patina and such, which doesn't make much sense because they're all from different places and periods. We took one out and it doesn't ring like silver, so that doesn't speak well of them either. I just want to confirm that a seam would make it 100% sure they're fake, because if so, they're going to be given to my 4-year-old niece to play with in her treasure chest. There are also two bronze ones that were purchased at a different time and came with some information on the 2x2. They're much different looking (much thinner to start with), and might be authentic or at least better fakes. I will post pictures later. Report this Post to the Staff
CaptainFwiffo Pillar of the Community United States 4132 Posts	Posted 08/09/2011 10:34 pm OK, here are the two bronze ones, and they really look like bronze, whereas the others are not as convincing as silver. They're much thinner and don't appear to have seams. They have a little verdigris. Again, I apologize about the crappy pictures. The 2x2 of the first is labeled "Constantine I The Great A.D. 307-337", "Proclaimed Emperor by the troops at York", and "Found in a hoard NR. Doncaster" The second says "Constantine II A.D. 337-340" and "Ex. hoard found NR. Doncaster" Report this Post to the Staff
Sap Moderator Australia 16837 Posts	Posted 08/10/2011 03:00 am Quote: I just want to confirm that a seam would make it 100% sure they're fake... Yep. Sorry. A seam, something like this, makes it a 100% certainty of being a cast fake. Quote: ..because if so, they're going to be given to my 4-year-old niece to play with in her treasure chest. You might want to get them checked for lead before letting the kiddies play with them. If they're not real silver, who knows what they actually are made of. The bronzes are indeed Roman, and appear to be genuine. They've also been identified correctly enough. "NR" would be abbreviation for "near". The top one was minted in Constantinople, the lower one minted in Trier, Germany. 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 Report this Post to the Staff
CaptainFwiffo Pillar of the Community United States 4132 Posts	Posted 08/10/2011 12:18 pm Cool! Thanks for the info. Report this Post to the Staff
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Ancient Roman? Coins | 2 Fake Greek, 2 Genuine Roman