Need some
help placing a final
identification on this coin and
help in figuring out what to put on a
flip for a coin like this.
I bought this one from a reputable dealer, not going to say who or where from. It was attributed as
Ionia -
Ephesus SNG Cop 297 and
Kinns page 89. I did not look up the coin before
buying. My bad.
It was clear it was not
SNG Cop 297. I got ahold of
Kinns and it wasn't that, either. I have looked at hundreds of coins in this process. My conclusion was that it wasn't
Ephesus, but maybe Arados. It seems to me that
Ephesus is pretty consistent with the letters on either
side of the bee's neck and do not come close with this coin. I posted it in the Greek coin
forum to see if I maybe
had the city right.
A couple of the experts think it is a
contemporary imitation, something that hadn't even crossed my mind. I continued to look and haven't found anything close, not even in
contemporary imitation sales, although there aren't that many examples I could find. I did find a few. I am going with the expert's opinions now, that it is a
contemporary imitation.
Looking at the coin, the magistrate is not readable. I think it is there in
part from a microscope, but I could also be imaging things that aren't there. The
palm tree behind the stag is really problematic. And so are the bee's legs and the letters.
If this is a
contemporary imitation, how do you record that in your records? Can you date it within a range, I assume at a similar time when the official coins were struck? Can you even identify a city?
Any
help and ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Edited to add: 18mm, 3.992 grams
Thank you,
Virgil