Unusual Carthage EL Stater

[mlkrt]

This coin is supposed to be pale gold or bright gold in colour, depending on the gold content in the individual series.
Any ideas how it could have attained its current condition?

[mlkrt]

To clarify: Do you think it's a fake? To me the style looks authentic and the weight and size appear to be correct. Yet if it's not a fake how can it look the way it does - the obverse partly gold and partly silver in colour and the reverse looking like silver with a dark patina?

[djmacdo]

It may have been in a fire at some time in its history or at least exposed to some other extraordinary event or chemical assault that has colored the silver element.  Still, it is a lovely coin and we ought to appreciate patinas on silver, electrum, and gold coins more than we co.