Dear all,
I'm rather excited by this early
Christmas present (from myself to myself) but could use your collective wisdom!
First, is anyone able to express an opinion on whether or not the coin is genuine? The question is based on my inexperience with the
type rather than any particular concerns, as while I have a number of
Kushan coins I have never handled ancient gold before so it is hard for me to judge. It's worn, but in hand there is nothing that screams at me that this might be fake. Of course, I may be missing some signs obvious to more experienced collectors.
To the extent that it helps, I acquired it from a local antique dealer who I have dealt with on several occasions in the past. He specializes in estate sales of, for the most
part,
good quality modern (19th-20th C) items, and occasionally picks up
antiquities and
ancient coins as
part of these. He's not an antiquities/coin specialist though, and, while I have never seen him
selling anything that I think is fake, occasionally he misdescribes things. He made no representations about this item however other than it being an ancient bronze ring and giving it's
provenance back to its previous owner. The point being that the seller doesn't create any cause for alarm but isn't a guarantee of authenticity either.
I am quite sure the dealer is right that the mount is bronze. I haven't tested it chemically but there is a slight tarnish on the inside of the ring and the old finger rub test results in a strong bronze smell. The coin, however, is not tarnished and rubbing it doesn't leave any odor (nb there is a small amount of dirt/dust in the detail of the coin, it's not tarnishing. Unfortunately, the silvery patches inside some of the lettering and in large blobs at the bottom of the coin appear to be solder or similar - in any case, whatever it is it appears to be sitting on top of the surface of the coin and to be firmly attached).
The second question is the curly one. Now that I have it, what should I do with it?
As a coin collector, the thought of a coin "trapped" as
jewelry doesn't sit well with me and I was originally contemplating taking this to a
conservator or jeweler and seeing if they can separate the coin from the mount. Additionally, to the best of my knowledge, there are two different
reverse types associated with this
obverse (Shiva standing left eg
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=1996509 or Siva &
Bull Nandi eg
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=351209), and I really want to know which this is! (Plus I have no idea how I'm going to store it as a ring!).
Now I have it in hand, however, I am less sure. It is quite well attached to the mount. I don't know how one would go about separating the coin and the ring, but I don't want it to be damaged by the process (although as I say above if I were to decide to separate them I would get a specialist to look at it rather than tackle it myself). I guess cost of restoration would be another factor (I have no idea), but I also have no idea what the condition of the
reverse is (it could be a slug for all I know) so I suppose it could turn out to be a rather expensive way to acquire what might end up being a low-quality coin! And while I have no idea when the coin was mounted on the ring, now that it is, it is
part of its
history, so as much as I would like to liberate the coin, it does feel a little sacrilegious to take it apart.
What would you do?
Kind regards
RL