FORVM`s Classical Numismatics Discussion Board
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Coin has pomegranate on one side and Kiddush Cup on the other. I've no idea what year or country. I was told the pomegranate is the sign of Jerusalem.
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I forgot the pic for the coin...
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Pomegranate side of coin
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It's a Judaean Revolt coin of the time that the area was a province of the Roman Empire. I think Bar Kochba (2nd revolt, about 130AD). That should get you on the right track to find it on Wildwinds.
The question remains if it is real or a copy. There are plenty of fakes out there. Real ones this nice can be pricey. How/where was it obtained? What are the size and weight?
PtolemAE
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Thanks for the great lead! I was given a bag of coins from a widow when I was 12 or 13 years old. Her husband had been in the merchant marines. There were coins from all over the world, most from the 1930's and 40's, but there were a few real old ones. I don't know the size off the top of my head, but I know it's heavy.
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Okay, I've narrowed it down to a Jewish first revolt shekel, year 1.
http://www.amuseum.org/book/page14.html
I guess the next step is verifying its authenticity and value.
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Oops I got the revolt # wrong :(
'Heavy' is not a very useful measure of coin weight. We usually use grams.
'Big' likewise isn't a very useful measure of size. Size usually means millimeters diameter.
Those vital statistics can help rule out obvious fakes.
PtolemAE
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This is indeed a year one shekel (Hendin #655, see http://www.menorahcoinproject.org/h655.htm). Unfortunately however, I doubt that it's real. If you can look at a copy of Hendin's book "Not Kosher", you will see that there are many known inauthentic copies of this coin. To my eye on quick inspection it resembles F655a.1.1 from that book. (I did not look exhaustively, maybe someone else has more time).
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If genuine, it would be a valuable coin. Given the circumstances under which you acquired it, that's highly unlikely!
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Modern forgery. Style is off and the characters are incorrect, clumsy mimickery of the real thing, characteristic of so-called false shekels.
Google "false shekel" and you'll find numerous sites dealing with these (other examples of this as well as similar pieces), as there is a collecting niche devoted to them.
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Actually this is (in all probability) a forgery of a "real" shekel as opposed to what people usually mean by "false" shekels. The so-called "false" shekels, dating from hundreds of years old to quite recent, typically have modern hebrew lettering, and the designs are very different from the silver shekels of the great rebellion. The example discussed here is a reasonable facsimile of an ancient shekel, with lettering in the ancient style. (Actually, the lettering style on the coins was already out of common use by the time of the great rebellion, but that is another story).
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You may be correct, though I disagree that the lettering is correct.Compare it with a real example and you'll see how the faker got it wrong -- close but wrong.
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There are bumps on the side of the coin wich make me think it was worn on a necklace. Would a modern forger put bumps like that on a coin?
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probably ex jewelry, possibly manufactured for that purpose
Ancient and Medieval Coin Identification Help => Topic started by: Chris Frank on November 21, 2008, 01:27:38 pm