Greek Coin ID help please!

[cfroehlich7584]

I bought this coin recently on a trip to Cairo.  It is made of silver I think an on the front is someone I am not familiar with.  On the back is a figure which appears to be and angel, or maybe the goddess Nike?  Sorry I can't provide more information, I am rather new at coin collecting and I would appreciate any help at all. Thanks!

[Pscipio]

Looks like a modern fake of a Vespasian tet from Alexandria.

Lars

[Jay G]

I agree, I think this is a fake. I don't believe that there is a recorded type with Nike left and an inscription denoting ALEXANDRIA for Vespasian who is the emperor depicted. It is dated year two which would signify CE 69-70 if legit, but unfortunately it is not. Likely just a tourist fake.

[cfroehlich7584]

  thanks, lesson learned i guess

[iwaniw]

It is a very interesting coin, which has signs of being a forgery.

In Katalog der Alexandrinischen Muenzen by Adriano Savio and Tomaso Lucchelli, there is an interesting Vespasian tetradrachm on page 60, number 5: which has Alexandria standing l., holding wreath and sceptre (year 1: dated on obverse) to left: P :Greek_Omega:MH !!! (Unfortuately, it is not pictured)

Alexandria and Roma do look very similar, so I can see how the error could have happened. The Nike standing l. is the only Vespasian tetradrachm that does not have a reverse inscription.

It does make you wonder more about coin pictured above.

[Jerome Holderman]

I know the pictures are not good enough to make a real solid analysis of the coin, but the details seem sharp for a cast, style seems to good for a struck forgery, wear patterns seem good.

I think I would want to have an expert examine it in hand before casting it into the black cabinet...

Jerome

[iwaniw]

Jerome:

I agree with your comments. What concerned me about the coin was the detail to the right of the obverse head: the style of the letters, the line under the chin and by the inscription as well as the closeness of the date to the head-- in my mind too close.

The reverse looks good except I would expect to see traces of the missing DP, even if only traces of the bottom of the letters.

The coin flan looks pretty good. Whenever I purchase Alexandrian coins I always look closely at the edges of the coin as it is hard to fake that detail and unfortunately the edges are not pictured.

[Edessa]

Same coin, same die, same centering shows up on Barry Murphy's page of cast Alexandrian fakes (bottom right coin):

http://bpmurphy.ancients.info/images/misc/alexandrianfakes.jpg

 

Eugene

[Jerome Holderman]

Bummer