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Greek Dekadrachm found in safety deposit box
Viva
Posts: 4
Hello, I've been a member of PCGS for many years and I've frequented the US coin forums, but I've never posted anything until now. The members on the US forum are usually pretty nice about giving advice so I'm hoping some of you will take pity and shed some light on what I can do with this "dark side" silver in my possession.
Most of my friends know me as that guy who collects old coins, so when they get their hands on something I'll usually get called to take a look. As it turns out, a friend of mine's mom was clearing out an old safety deposit box that belonged to her late husband (he passed away in 1984) and she came upon some coins. The deceased husband was a veteran of WW2 & Korea, he liked to collect nice coins, jewelry, watches, and other nice things. Most of the items he collected were bought in the 1950's through the 1970's.
As far as the coin collection goes, there were mostly US coins (and some very nice ones) but the thing we didn't know anything about is this Greek coin that's in an old white holder with gold lettering.
The lettering says "Greek Dedadrachm, 413-357 B.C." but there's no notation of who graded or encapsulated it.
There are no auction receipts so no known provenance. It's a fantastic coin in hand but I wouldn't even begin to know how to authenticate it or grade it. If I had to say something about the coin, I would say that the strike appears to be pretty good, it's centered with slight wear at the highest points of the coin like the hair over the ear and on the shoulders of the horses on the rear.
If there's anyone who wouldn't mind pointing me in the right direction, I'm looking to authenticate it and possibly sell the coin for my friend's mom. I live in Las Vegas, I go to California frequently so if anyone has any insight on somewhere fairly close by where I could take the coin for authentication or appraisal somewhat close by I'd really appreciate it.
I hope the pictures come out OK, I spent about an hour trying to figure out how to get them to append to the bottom of this message.
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How big is it and what does it weigh?
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The coin is perfectly circular and has no fine detail. It should weigh about 42 grams, for kicks you should see what it weighs but this coin is a cast copy all day regardless.
If this were a US coin, I'd say that it's unlikely to be a cast counterfeit because the surface of the coin isn't rough, there's not a hint of a granular surface showing.
This looks like more of an elegant job of counterfeiting, perhaps it's an electrotype if anything? I suppose I should crack the coin out of the holder and check the edge.
Good idea on weighing the coin, I'll have to get on that and see what it weighs. I'll see if the owner will let me crack it out and do some more research.
I can photograph the entire slab, if I get time tonight I'll do that.
Well, just Love coins, period.
Again, thanks for the feedback, I've had very minimal exposure to counterfeits. Generally I don't deal with coins that are faked as much as something like this is...
22 grams
That would appear to seal the deal, definitely a fake I'd say.
Now the hard part comes when I have to deliver the news that what was thought to be an authentic heirloom is actually an old counterfeit.
Grandpa got bamboozled!
Thanks for all the honest feedback, I really appreciate everyone's input!
<< <i>So, I pulled out the old food scale and put the coin on there...
22 grams
That would appear to seal the deal, definitely a fake I'd say.
Now the hard part comes when I have to deliver the news that what was thought to be an authentic heirloom is actually an old counterfeit.
Grandpa got bamboozled!
Thanks for all the honest feedback, I really appreciate everyone's input! >>
I think that Grandpa knew that it was a fake, otherwise he would have paid a fortune for it, even in the late seventies. He might have simply liked the idea of owning a fake, regardless...Both the Athenian decadrachm and the one from Syracuse were actually commemorative coins that were minted in very small numbers to celebrate military successes, they didn't really circulate. The design of this decadrachm was made by Kimon, one of the finest engravers from Ancient Greece, and if the coin was real, it would have been worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
myEbay
DPOTD 3
she's popular on banknotes, these are genuine
I feel I may have asked this already but do you have an EID MAR Brutus?
<< <i>simply amazing smeagle
I feel I may have asked this already but do you have an EID MAR Brutus? >>
I don't, but not for a lack of trying... I've been outbid on the last two which have come up for sale. There's one coming up at Goldberg in June but I'm probably going to skip it for its crystallization/porosity, although it is otherwise a gorgeous coin. The EID MAR sits at the top of my wantlist, but it sits at the top of most everyone else's as well.
Found another Arethusa banknote in my collection.
and a large size banknote with a whole bunch of ancient greek coins pictured, hope you like that too.