Have you ever seen this Gold coin?? is it Greek! Maybe BC??

eCoinquest

I was alerted of this coin by a family friend. it was found in Mexico recently. What are your thoughts on it. My first thought was how perfectly round it is. possibly counterfeit??? It has been tested and it is gold. I need some info as to the identity of this coin and maybe an approximate value.

Thanks for the opinions!

Hussulo

The pictures of it aren't showing on my computer.

Silvereagle82

All I see is a red X

silverpop

red x

GeorgieB

Cant see em champ. :]

lordmarcovan

Are you using the URLs from an email, by any chance?

Try saving the pix to your computer and uploading them here (if they are less than 50 kb in filesize), or to Photobucket or something like that.

Or forward me the email and PM me to let me know you did. (At the rate I check my email, I should be able to help you by next Christmas, haha).

lordmarcovan

I got your pictures in the email you forwarded me. I just took the best two of the four and merged them into a single image, for simplicity's sake.

As the person in the email suspected, the man-headed bull design is indeed from Gela. However, all of those coins that I am aware of were silver, not gold.

I strongly suspect this to be a fake coin, not only from it being the wrong color (gold rather than silver), but also because of the mushy, soft details, indicating it is probably a cast copy. As it happens, I found a cast copy of exactly this same design in a junk lot not long ago, and gave it away as a gag gift to somebody who bought some real ancient coins from me. The copy I had was a dull silver color, though, not gold plated.

This could well have been made for jewelry, and maybe, if the owner is lucky, it has some actual gold content. That's a long shot, but not as long a shot as it turning out to be a real coin, I'm afraid. Best-case scenario is it turning out to be a gold charm with a little bit of bullion value.

Sadly, what is more likely is it is just another one of the common copies like the one I so recently got, with the addition of a little gold plating and a fancy box.

Edit to add: I just saw your note about it testing as real gold. Depending on how that test was done, that could be good news. Not for it being a real coin- I am afraid the odds of that are remote indeed. However, I do know they have made gold replicas of ancient coins for jewelry purposes, so maybe that IS really gold, which would be nice.

Real gold? Maybe. Get that confirmed.

Real coin? I strongly, strongly doubt it.

Sapyx

I'd second LordM's opinion - it's fake. I'd also strongly suspect it isn't solid gold - I think gold-plated is the best you can hope for.


<< <i>As it happens, I found a cast copy of exactly this same design in a junk lot not long ago, and gave it away as a gag gift to somebody who bought some real ancient coins from me. >>


That "somebody" would be me.

And I'm much obliged to LordM for it - while these fake Gela tetradrachms seem to be fairly common in North America, I've never seen one in the scratchtrays down here in Oz. Here's mine, still in the 2x2 it came in from LordM:



The most characteristic feature of these fakes, apart from the grainy, half-melted appearance, is the huge cavity in the middle of the obverse, on the man-headed-bull's neck. I assume these "coins" were made with this hole already in place, to facilitate attaching the coin to something by a blob of glue or solder.

lordmarcovan

Heehee! I knew I had sent it to one of my bigger Roman coin customers- I just couldn't remember which one!

I kept my fake Athenian Owl tetradrachm, though. A forum member sent me that. I also collect owl figurines and plates and such, so a fake Owl tetradrachm is a nice addition to that collection.



<< <i>I assume these "coins" were made with this hole already in place, to facilitate attaching the coin to something by a blob of glue or solder. >>



Y'know, now that you mention it, I think there were replica sets offered, with all the coins glued onto a card.

eCoinquest

Thanks guys for the info. unfortunately i agree that it appears to be fake. the first thing i noticed was the unusually roundness to the coin. pretty good handywork for 450 b.c.lol

I will relay the info to my friend. Thanks again and have a great holiday!!