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Author Topic: Even slight possibility of being genuine?  (Read 744 times)

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Mario K

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Even slight possibility of being genuine?
« on: July 28, 2022, 09:12:13 am »
Hi,
I'm not a collector of ancient coins and at my age it's a bit too late to start, but when bidding at a local auction I ended up with this small collection. I have no intention of keeping them but if there is any likelihood that they're at all genuine then I plan to gift them to a young relative. I paid a lot less than expected for the Lots I was bidding on so these owe me absolutely nothing, but I don't really want to gift a pile of fakes to anyone. My opinion (which probably isn't worth a great deal) is that most are possibly genuine and I base this on only one observation, and that is that they are in such poor condition would anyone bother creating such forgeries.
Any general thoughts would be most grateful.
Thanks

Online Pekka K

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Re: Even slight possibility of being genuine?
« Reply #1 on: July 28, 2022, 09:30:50 am »

One coin has readable letters (Α)ΠΑΜΕΩΝ ΤΗΣ ΙΕΡΑΣ pointing to Apamea, Syria.

Pekka K

Offline Lech Stępniewski

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Re: Even slight possibility of being genuine?
« Reply #2 on: July 28, 2022, 10:05:35 am »
My opinion (which probably isn't worth a great deal) is that most are possibly genuine and I base this on only one observation, and that is that they are in such poor condition would anyone bother creating such forgeries.

You are absolutely right. Probably all of them are genuine but in very poor condition which makes price cheap.
Lech Stępniewski
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Mario K

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Re: Even slight possibility of being genuine?
« Reply #3 on: July 28, 2022, 10:11:49 am »
Thank you Pekka and Lech, sometimes common sense can be right. So long as I can be fairly confident that they're not just a bunch of fakes then I can gift them with a clear conscience, and maybe spark a life-long interest in the youngster.
Again, many thanks.

Offline Lech Stępniewski

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Re: Even slight possibility of being genuine?
« Reply #4 on: July 28, 2022, 10:58:49 am »
and maybe spark a life-long interest in the youngster.

I think that the youngster would be happier when he get coin in better condition and be able to identified it himself, at least country or emperor. Some of these coins could be a pain even for specialist.
Lech Stępniewski
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Mario K

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Re: Even slight possibility of being genuine?
« Reply #5 on: July 28, 2022, 11:48:26 am »
Hi Lech,

Yes, good point, and I'd also thought of that and so had the idea to also buy a few from a reputable dealer that he could research himself and fairly easily identify. Hopefully even  worn coins such as these might get him wondering about their history and who may have handled them a couple of Millenia ago. My lifelong interest has been pens from the 19th century and first couple of decades of the 20th, and I find myself wondering the same ... who wrote with this pen? Occasionally with pens, even with pens from as recently as 1900 - 1920, it's impossible to even identify who manufactured them.

Many thanks

Offline Meepzorp

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Re: Even slight possibility of being genuine?
« Reply #6 on: July 28, 2022, 04:42:02 pm »
Hi MK.

They all look genuine to me. However, as you and others have stated, they are very low grade, to the point that most of them may never be indentifiable.

Meepzorp

Offline SC

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Re: Even slight possibility of being genuine?
« Reply #7 on: July 29, 2022, 08:05:44 am »
While many won't be fully identifiable due to the condition, many can be narrowed down to general culture and era.

As such they could be a great "starter set" to get your young relative interested.

I see several Arabic coins - one earlier like Umayyad or Abbasid, one later like possibly Mamluk, and even what looks like a nice Turkic figural coin that appears to have 12th-13th century arabic on the reverse and an eagle on the obverse.

I also see a late Byzantine scyphate (concave) coin.

Some are clearly Roman provincial while there are also Roman imperial - like what looks like a worn GLORIA EXERCITVS two soldiers with two standards coin.

Given this range of cultures and types this appears to be part of a typical Middle Eastern or "Holy Land" lot.

I would encourage your young relative to post some here individually in the future if they would like some identification guidance and assistance.

SC
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Offline Jan P

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Re: Even slight possibility of being genuine?
« Reply #8 on: July 29, 2022, 11:07:02 am »
Yes, the Turkic SC mentions shows a typical Zengid eagle, I think, and the other eagle-coin is probable a Ptolemean coin with Zeus obverse ...
As a teener I would have appreciated a gift of this kind very much (together with a few less worn coins and some explanation ;)).

Mario K

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Re: Even slight possibility of being genuine?
« Reply #9 on: July 30, 2022, 12:57:26 pm »
Thank you all .... That's been very useful.

 

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