What are these copies of?

satootoko · May 31, 2004 5:44AM

In that cookie tin left behind in the house my daugthter bought were these two pieces, obviously copies, but of what?

First, .5g of very thin tin, 11.5mm wide, stamped woman's bust surrounded by a circle of stars:

Next, 8g, 24mm x 21mm:

That's not a milled edge - it's part of the background.

PBRat · May 31, 2004 7:22AM

The second one is a copy of a Greek Silver Tetradrachm. See link.

Sylvestius · May 31, 2004 7:49AM

it's an Athenian Owl i tell you!

PBRat · May 31, 2004 9:07AM

Same thing.

Aethelred · May 31, 2004 9:33AM

An Owl with milled edges!

<< <i>That's not a milled edge - it's part of the background. >>

eureka · May 31, 2004 12:33PM

The first one is a generic liberty head. Used for cheap jewelry.
I had to do some digging through old email, but found this of similar "shells":

satootoko · May 31, 2004 1:44PM

Thanks to all.

lordmarcovan · May 31, 2004 3:46PM

One time I was looking at a cheap cigar box full of world coins on eBay and saw what appeared to be a gold British half-sovereign on top, placed there no doubt by the seller to draw attention. The picture was too small and blurry to really tell what anything was (you know the type). I figured it for a fake like one of those jewelry pieces above with the funny George V portrait, but decided to gamble, figuring 35 bucks was my upper limit for the whole lot.

I was outbid, but I had shown the lot to a dealer friend of mine, and he asked if I minded him bidding. "Sure, go ahead," I said. "It's gotten too rich for my blood- too risky a gamble if the "gold" coin turns out to be phony."

He bid, and won the lot for $45. Turns out the "half-sovereign" was indeed a fake- it was a gold-plated lookalike made for a charm bracelet, similar to the one in the picture above.

BUT... the lot was chock full of nice (genuine) coins, and there was a nearly complete type set of scarce 1895-96 Puerto Rican coins in there (lacking only the peso and including several duplicate 20-centavo pieces)! He sent the P.R. coins to ANACS, and all came back between EF40 and AU58. He made $1,500 when he resold just the Puerto Rican pieces! And there was still about $400-500 worth of other coins in that $45 box lot... which I had pointed out to him, and had been afraid to risk more than $35 on!

That's my "one that got away" story.

PS- I seem to recall emailing that auction to our very own Old Dead King, too. He didn't bid on it, though.

What are these copies of?

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