Greek Drachm to ID

[Canaan]

Dear board,
This drachm of Alexander the great does not have the ysual lion skin but mbare headed bust, any help in identification is appreciated, also it is a cup coin stramge for greek coins! 20mm and 3.5 grams

[djmacdo]

Perhaps an imitation combining a Lysimachus obv. type and an Alexander type reverse.  Are we sure it is ancient?  A sharper photograph would help determine.

[Altamura]

In my eyes it still could be a Herakles on the obverse. At least on these blurry pictures .

Regards

Altamura

[djmacdo]

Yes, it could be Herakles.  We need better pictures, and the obverse could use some cleaning.

[Canaan]

Thanks alot all, for some reasom i am unable to take better pictures and in the mean time i have no good tools for cleaning, but here is some more images, as for the bust in hand it looks clearly bare headed, but i am leaning toward a fake!! As the reverse is very soft and the coin is cup shaped

[djmacdo]

Cup-shaped is actually good--many modern fakes are very flat.  The obverse still puzzles me.  Maybe a soak in distilled water would loosen some of the mud on the obverse.  A little vinegar would probably do more.

[SC]

The soapy details and raised rim make me think it might be a cast.  Possibly of a softer alloy.  It looks like it was pierced, perhaps for jewelry, which then ripped.

SC

[Canaan]

Some more coins from the same [Removed By Admin] seller with the same pattern of rim,

[Arados]

Difficult to be completely sure due to the image quality but I also feel that your coin might be cast. The coins edge looks suspicious, there's excess material extending over the edge and what is happening with the test cut (if it is a test cut) ? In your first set of images the cut looks normalish but in your second images you can clearly see an uninterrupted continuing of the edge through the cut ?

[SC]

To me those other images look completely different.  They look much better.  They have some "rims" on the reverse but these are uneven in width and blend in smoothly with the rest of the background.

The original coin has a very strange raised rim around almost all of both sides.  The rim is narrow and even and appear quite flat on top.  In my opinion this is a sign of a potential cast.

SC

[djmacdo]

I see what you mean--and that makes sense to me.  I initially dismissed the idea of a fake because of the poor condition, and I now realize that was not a good idea.

[Canaan]

More images