My neighbor(5miles west of me) owns 80 acres and was digging a hole in her back yard so she could plant a bush. The hole was about 14 inches deep as the black sand is about 15 inches deep then you hit hard pack. While digging she hit something. At first she thought it was a rock but retrieved it from her shovel and it was this strange coin. Mind you, this is in the middle of the eastern Oregon desert. The coin looks like some type of hammered roman coin to me. The material is not silver more like pewter. It is fairly light material and the coin is in excellent condition for being buried in the magnetic sand. I am not familiar with these types of coins. HELP! what is it and is it valuable? I will attach photos.
Hammered coin?
- Thread starter Earl
- Start date
Prairie Drifter
Tenderfoot
- Oct 23, 2005
- 8
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Looks like a Ancient Greek coin of Tyre (Phoenicia), known as a Silver Shekel from about 125 B.C. to 100 A.D. With the head of Melkarth on the front, and a standing eagle on the beak of a ship on the reverse. "Note this coin is among those known as "Biblical Coins", and was struck in large numbers and circulated extensively in Judea at the time of Christ. It is generally believed that the "Thirty pieces of silver" paid to Judas was made up of these coins." [Ref. 'Catalogue of the Most Popular Coins', by Fred Reinfeld, New York, 1969]
Here is one that is similar:
How it came to were it was found, is that it most likely belonged to someone who collected coins, or had it as a curiosity and lost it. It could also be a reproduction (but looks real to me). Take it to a coin shop and have it authenticated and you can learn it's value.
Hope this helps. Good luck.
Here is one that is similar:
How it came to were it was found, is that it most likely belonged to someone who collected coins, or had it as a curiosity and lost it. It could also be a reproduction (but looks real to me). Take it to a coin shop and have it authenticated and you can learn it's value.
Hope this helps. Good luck.
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packerbacker
Gold Member
Maybe Judas was exiled to the Oregon desert for his acts, that was before they knew about Southern California. 
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liverpoolfc
Jr. Member
- Oct 9, 2005
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go back and try to find the other 29 
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ClamBob
Jr. Member
Hate to even say how much it looks like so many ancient fakes I've seen. I used to buy "Spanish Dubloons" from a coin shop for a buck or two each. They were real silver but if you looked closely you would find "Replica" stamped on them somewhere.
Now my Dad, who was a welder, was very good at making that "Replica" disappear. He would sell three or four a week to unwary victims and give me money to buy more. He was also a diver and would say that he had found them on a wreck. I'm not saying this is a good thing but...
Hand striking makes it look old but it doesn't make it old and just because someone tells you they found it in a hole...
Provenance makes something seem that much more believable. Especially if you want to believe it.
I'm probably just stating the obvious.
HH,
BobJ
Now my Dad, who was a welder, was very good at making that "Replica" disappear. He would sell three or four a week to unwary victims and give me money to buy more. He was also a diver and would say that he had found them on a wreck. I'm not saying this is a good thing but...
Hand striking makes it look old but it doesn't make it old and just because someone tells you they found it in a hole...
Provenance makes something seem that much more believable. Especially if you want to believe it.
I'm probably just stating the obvious.
HH,
BobJ
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- Thread starter
- #9
Well clambob, I know the old lady personally. Her husband is a world war 2 vet and they are as poor as jobe's turkey. They are honest old folks. She is 75 and he is 84 and she really did find it while digging a hole to plant a bush. We dug up and sifted the entire area and that is the only coin that was found. Back around 1905 this area was given away as homestead claims and their were 1200 families in the great basin. Most failed on their homesteads and moved on, some were successful and stayed. My personal thought on the matter is that possibly one or more of the homesteaders were of jewish decent and had this coin on their person and at some time lost it. Just my thoughts. As for the coin being fake. That could be entirely possible as we have not had it to a coin dealer yet. I have found out that biblical coins are a specialty and it is hard to find a dealer that knows much about them, at least in a small community. I will have to make a 250 mile drive to the big city of Salem, Oregon and go to a coin show thanksgiving weekend and see if I can find someone who can tell me if the coin is fake or real. If it is fake it is worth $10. If it is real, it could be worth $600 to $1000 or more. It seems that these biblical coins are quite common and in the days of old they made lots of them and for some odd reason they have survived quite well. This is all I can tell you at this time until I find a dealer. For the old lady's sake I pray that the coin is real as they really do need the money. Buffalo Earl
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Michigan Badger
Gold Member
I don't know if the Silver Shekel is real but it's still a neat find.
And, a neat story to go with it.
However, Clambob is right about the fakes. Most anything out there can be faked so that it can even fool SOME expert coin attributors. In fact, go to almost any online ancient coin forum and those who really know what they're talking about will agree to what I wrote above.
Most big time coin collectors (very large and valuable collections) hope that MOST of their coins are genuine.
Now, if people can fake crystallized ancient coins, what can they do with modern coins that can be much easier to fake? Bulgaria, China, etc., are turning out frauds like bottle caps.
Even here in the U.S. we have all sorts of people doing shrewd things (like clam mentioned). One neat trick is to sand down large cents and re-stamp them to look like rare 18th century state coppers. They purposely make worn dies so you'd swear the coin is legitimate.
Nuff said.
Great find and the best to you.
And, a neat story to go with it.
However, Clambob is right about the fakes. Most anything out there can be faked so that it can even fool SOME expert coin attributors. In fact, go to almost any online ancient coin forum and those who really know what they're talking about will agree to what I wrote above.
Most big time coin collectors (very large and valuable collections) hope that MOST of their coins are genuine.
Now, if people can fake crystallized ancient coins, what can they do with modern coins that can be much easier to fake? Bulgaria, China, etc., are turning out frauds like bottle caps.
Even here in the U.S. we have all sorts of people doing shrewd things (like clam mentioned). One neat trick is to sand down large cents and re-stamp them to look like rare 18th century state coppers. They purposely make worn dies so you'd swear the coin is legitimate.
Nuff said.
Great find and the best to you.
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