Need help with identifying an Ancient coin

tipnring

Any help identifying this ancient Coin is appreciated. I have looked online and can't seem to locate this coin. It looks like it has an Elephant on the reverse side. Photo scans are poor. If I can get a better scan, I will post it.

Thanks

Phil

John Conduitt

It looks like a fake, with Arethusa on the obverse.

tipnring

updated photos. Let me know if anyone has any info on this one.

lordmarcovan

It is not an ancient coin, but rather a modern fantasy of some kind. The style is inconsistent with an ancient coin, though the design certainly mimics ancient motifs.

Now when I say “modern”, I simply mean it’s not ancient. It could be old- maybe even by a century or so- but I honestly don’t know.

I’m reasonably confident in declaring what it is NOT, but unfortunately not so good at determining what it IS.

It is interesting, at least.

tipnring

Thanks for looking at it & your comments.

Sapyx

It's not just "an elephant" - it's a quadriga of elephants: four elephants pulling a giant wagon underneath a triumphal arch. Very "Roman" in theme, if not in artistic style.

With absolutely no inscriptions, in either Greek nor Latin, I'm confident agreeing "it's not an ancient coin". I've no idea what is actually is, though - perhaps some kind of Paduan-style old imitation ancient coin, perhaps a more modern "tourist copy" (though again, if so I'm not sure what it's supposed to be copying).

My best guess it's from the workshop of a tourist-fake-maker, and they've "muled" a Syracuse-style Arethusa obverse with a Roman-style quadriga-of-elephants reverse. If the reverse die was intended for a much smaller coin, that would explain the odd bowl-shape.

lordmarcovan

I concur that it looks like a fantasy issue made to sell to tourists, though how long ago is anyone’s guess.