Athens decadrachm fragment

Washingtoniana

This Athens decadrachm fragment in an upcoming auction caught my eye. What a cool thing, if it's authentic. I'm so skeptical that without more solid provenance, the first thing I thought was that it looks like damage made to deceive. Any thoughts?

Here's the fragment...

and here's what an original Athens decadrachm is supposed to look like...

Weiss

I see no reason to question it. These were apparently the first international trade unit. Stands to reason some were split up like the 8 reales in that same capacity 2000 years later.

291fifth

A great item to pass on when it is auctioned. It does nothing for me in that condition. Just my opinion.

Insider2

Interesting. The piece looks OK but shows intentional chisel cuts. That means to me that the original coin was hacked apart to make "small change." Is that mentioned in the description. I'm not aware that this is a common occurrence as we see with Spanish "bits."

SYRACUSIAN

The very small number of decadrachms that were minted suggests that it was a commemorative coin, hence its rarity when compared with the tetradrachms. I can’t comment on the “international trade unit” ,because I do not know, and therefore the purposefulness of such a clumsy partial cut.

Namvet69

I am curious about the weight of the pieces in relation to the weight of a complete coin. Are those a quarter of a whole? Peace Roy