Found two of the same coin...

[mozartpc27]

Hello All,

This is my first post.  I must confess I had no particular interest in numismatics, before today that is.  Then, when I was out walking my dogs, I happened to come across not one but two coins (they are clearly the same coin, two examples of it) that are obviously ancient, among a whole bunch of others of much more recent vintage.  Most of the recent ones were Italian, and based on the image on the back (a quadriga), I am guessing that the two ancient coins are Roman in origin. 

I read the rules and do not wish to abuse this forum.  I'm sorry the picture I have is of both coins, but it is just one type of coin.  I am not interested in their monetary value.  As these were coins I found on the street, together, my surmise is that they are lost by someone who did not intend to lose them.  Therefore, I am going to take them to my local police station tomorrow morning and turn them in.  My best guess, since most of the coins came from the WWII period, is that some person who was in the war who lives in the area brought them home, and they were taken from there. 

Finding them did spark my interest however, insofar as I would like to know exactly WHAT it is I am looking at.  To that end, I've uploaded the photos I took and see if anyone here could help me to identify them.  I have looked at several hundred coins now on dityoldcoins.com and on this site, but I can't find anything that looks to me to be an exact match.  Perhaps they are forgeries, although they are awfully beat up for that.

I gratefully await a reply.

[curtislclay]

Unfortunately they are just crude modern forgeries, of no value really.

I would recommend that you don't waste your time turning them in to the police!

Did you find these coins in Europe or America, by the way?

Best regards,

Curtis Clay

[mozartpc27]

In the USA, in Philadelphia.

What gives them away, might I ask?  I must confess I find that disappointing!  I am particularly surprised that forgeries would be so badly beaten to heck.

I will probably still go to the police, because I found these with about 40 other coins; all of much more modern vintage, but most from the Italy ca. 1939-1940, and those seem to go for $3 apiece or so on ebay.  If someone were to realize the full value of what I found, they might get $150, so best to turn them in.

[curtislclay]

Your reverse copies a silver tetradrachm of Syracuse, a little larger than a U.S. quarter, see genuine example below. Very different from your two coins, wouldn't you agree?

The forger beat them up precisely with the intention of making them look old and convincing unsuspecting tourists of their antiquity!

[mozartpc27]

Your reverse copies a silver tetradrachm of Syracuse, a little larger than a U.S. quarter, see genuine example below. Very different from your two coins, wouldn't you agree?

The forger beat them up precisely with the intention of making them look old and convincing unsuspecting tourists of their antiquity!

Very different indeed.  I looked at a similar coin to the one you posted, and thought that might be the one (a dekadrachm from Syracuse - seen on the right about 2/3 of the way down here), but it's clearly not the same - so I thought that just meant that I hadn't found the right coin!

[mozartpc27]

I should have noticed the detail around the mouth of the face on the front was much too childish looking to be real.  Oh well; perhaps the person who lost them still thinks they are real, and will want them back.

[JBF]

The forgeries are cast which means there is not very good detail, also the style is way off of anything genuine.  look at the real Syracusan tetradrachm and the detail which comes with a coin that is struck rather than cast.

Also, when numismatists refer to a coin as modern, that doesn't mean that it was made yesterday.  Replicas dating 150 years old would also be "modern."  This was probably meant to fool tourists (hence often called tourist fakes), who don't know what a genuine ancient looks like.  The fact that it is beaten up, helps confirm that someone made it to fool others.

The Syracusan tetradrachm shown above is an example of the coins of Sicily.  If you want to see some of the greatest coins ever made, look at the coins of Sicily, particularly from Syracuse.  The tyrants of Sicily would, to demonstrate their power, host Olympic chariot teams.  They also got the best celators in the world (ever) to design coins for them, showing chariot teams!