They are all tourist
fakes.
Petra is full of sellers of these
cheap sand
cast fake coins which usually sit on tables, or benches, or even on a rug on the ground, among a host of other
fakes of
antiquities of various sorts, ranging from
pottery, to metalwork to coins.
A small point of semantics; there is a difference between bought and found which makes me wonder which applies, not that it alters the
fake nature of the coins.
However, the sellers of this material are in such
abundance that its likely that many are dropped and are not worth the effort to recover.
If you are in doubt it serves to remember that the sale and export of
ancient coins is illegal in Jordan, with stiff penalties for offenders. Yet these items are openly displayed for sale at archeological sites in front of the authorities and police at the sites....... The old poker adage applies "Look Around the Poker Table; If You Can’t See the Sucker, You’re It." Many a tourist falls for this game and that is the purpose of the game! It keeps the locals gainfully employed, transferring tourist dollars into the local economy and is thus tolerated by officials.
As for the coin it is a crudely
cast fake of imitating a silver
tetradrachm of Antiochos III - king's
head on
obv. and
Apollo on
omphalos rev.. A nice momento of your visit, but nothing more.
Fake Coins and Notorious Fake Sellers
