British Museum Identification Service

[Dominicus]

Has anyone in the forum -with US return address- gone recently through the process of submitting a coin to the British Museum for identification?

I've inquired via email about this directly (i.e. payment and possibility of shipping back to US), but wanted to ask this forum about what to expect and any learnings for those living in US.

Thank You!  Dominicus

[curtislclay]

Why would you go to the trouble and expense?  You'll very likely get just as good an answer, free and much more quickly, by showing a picture of your coin here on Forvm!

A couple of years ago I sent an aureus of Septimius Severus to the BM, because it had strangely been gilded, which made me worry a little about the authenticity, and the BM had one from the same dies to compare it with.  They approved it and sent it back to me in Chicago, but did ask me to reimburse their postal charges.

Again regarding authenticity, I once sent them 12 late Roman bronzes that had wrongly been condemned as modern fakes by the notorious moderator of a coin forgery discussion group.  Two curators saw nothing wrong with the coins, found two die links to unquestionably genuine pieces that had been in their own collection for over a century, and sent them back to me in Chicago. 

So there are no real problems with customs or shipping, apart from the slight risk that the coin will be stolen or otherwise lost underway.

But, to repeat, I certainly wouldn't recommend sending coins to the BM for IDs!

[Dominicus]

Hello Curtis,

I posted the picture for ID on FORVM recently, but only got an idea of age.  Please check my prior post:  https://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=45684.0

It's more like a medal or maybe part of a decorative artifact.  Old but not ancient.

At 36mm diam, it's quite large and with very thin flan.  I found it packaged in a coin flip among a small collection of roman, byzantine, and islamic coins.  The collection was passed down from my grandfather, but clueless as to origin.  Gramps was not known to collect ancients.  The scene doesn't convey that much information either, except for the styling of furniture and clothing.

I was thinking BM may have better hope of linking this to a medal or such, but I realize the chance may be small.  I certainly wouldn't mind a nominal shipping charge for an opinion.

Advice is always welcome!  Dominicus

[Robert_Brenchley]

You need an expert on buttons and the like; surely there must be one in the US?

[Steve Minnoch]

I'd expect someone who could identify that in hand could do so off a photo e-mail attachment, which would surely be more convenient for both parties.

Steve

[Dominicus]

My search for a "medals" forum hasn't turned up any obvious candidates.

In my email inquiry to BM about payment logistics I did include an "oh-by-the-way" image and physical characteristics, just in case they had any chance of screeing this from an image.

I'm totally ignorant about medals, or "pressed buttons", but at 36mm, this would make for one huge button...again I'm no expert on 19th century fashion just never considered this would have any such function.

I'm not aware of any service in US comparable to what the BM offers to do.  If BM replies back advising me not to send this in, I may start emailing some of the antiquities deales on the web for their opinions.

My goal is to at least take item out of the "unknown" bucket.