Fake IONIA, Ephesos coin?

[Tom E2]

Is this a fake? I've looked though fake coin report and can't find anything similar at all.
These supposedly older coins have far fewer references to check.
Apparently it's an electrum coin found near Ephesus but I'm highly skeptical.
It's non-magnetic, but the color looks wrong to my untrained eye.
I think the darker patina around the bee has some scratching that might not be natural?
The cracking around the edges is a little weird too, right?

~20mm diameter and ~4.75mm height, but that varies. Can't weight it atm but will add that asap.
 

[Ron C2]

cracking around the edges of struck coins is typical.  I'm not an expert on early Hellenistic electrum coinage, but the fabric of the coin looks ok to me. 

The scratching in the fields around the bee look like lceaning damage/tooling to me, but it does not look cast.  The fabric color looks in the right hue range for natural electrum.

Have you checked its density against other similar listed examples? (i.e. mass divided by volume)

This would take away the variables around size and weight between various examples and tell you if it's likely to be the expected gold/silver blend.

[Tom E2]

Thanks for the feedback, Ron! I will check weight and density this week.

If that checks out, does anyone know where I might get it authenticated/appraised?

[Ron C2]

The major grading services are your best bet.  Take a look at NCG.

[Altamura]

In my eyes this coin is a fake  .
The style is odd, this pattern of cracks on the edge is untypical for early electrum coins and I have never seen such letters on electrum coins from Ephesos.

Here are some examples of electrum coins with a bee:
https://collections.mfa.org/objects/2224/16-stater-of-ephesos-with-bee?ctx=2aa7b502-d11b-4d61-b2ab-dfcb3a46137b&idx=1
http://numismatics.org/collection/1944.100.45988
http://numismatics.org/collection/1977.158.73
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1983-0710-14
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1983-0710-13
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_G-4665
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=11904607
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=8709429
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=7492273
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=2661487

Regards

Altamura

[Tom E2]

Yeah, the edging is unique and I don't see these letter on other coins.

It's 12.38 grams which would line up with the Aeginetan standard?

I cleaned it up with some warm water and soft brush and its a little cleaner.
Still thinking its likely fake but the weight seems it could be right so I'm on the fence still

[Joe Sermarini]

If it was consigned to me, I could not sell it because I strongly suspect it is fake. I would, however, send it to NGC, just in case...

[Tom E2]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll send it in just in case, and update the thread once I hear back.

[Ron C2]

To the op, what is the origin of the coin? That can also be an important clue.

[OldMoney]

There is nothing about this item that in any way makes me think it is genuine and ancient.
I think it possibly makes an attempt to copy facets of other genuine coins, but falls far short.
I agree with those others who believe or claim this to be a fake. IMHO

- Walter