Roman coin, Real or fake ?

[Hadrian]

i got this coin few days ago, suppose to be a roman one, can you help me if you please?

weight is 10 grams

 

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[Mackaydon]

Welcome to Treasure Net !!
What is it's diameter in mm. ?
Don....

 

[cudamark]

My "fake" radar is itching pretty bad. It's hard to tell from a photo of a coin that been cleaned as hard as that one. This is a bronze coin? Either real and pitted, or cast replica. Metal type, weight, and measurement should tell the story. Where did you get it?

 

[Mackaydon]

The legend on the reverse is similar to this coin's:

And this coin's attrition is:
Antoninus Pius, Silver/Billon, 25mm, Tetradrachm of Alexandria, Egypt
ANTWNINOC CEBEV CEB, laureate head right
L DE-KATOV, Athena standing left, holding owl and resting hand on shield. Year 10 = 146-147 AD.
Don.......

 

[Hadrian]

it is 10 grams and some times 11 grams. the diameter is 24 mm
i put it for some days in lemon juice to clean it
i got it from Alexandria - Egypt from a friend with some other coins
the color looked so much like the one you attached before i cleaned it
after some days in lemon juice it turned little into the color as i attached

 

[Mackaydon]

Any idea as to what the object on the reverse is?
Don.......

 

[Hadrian]

thanks Mackaydon, i just wanna make sure that the coin is real or may be fake...
in both cases i still like it and will keep it

 

[Mackaydon]

Looking closer, I believe the image on the reverse is the "Canopic jar of Osiris", similar to as shown in this coin of Antoninus Pius:

Don....

 

[Hadrian]

i believe that the coin is belong to Hadrian who ruled the empire before Antoninus Pius from 117 - 138 AD
i am so sure about this
but i just wanna make sure it is a true one.

 

[Mackaydon]

Actually, this one appears even closer:

Hadrian, AR Tetradrachm, 125/126 (Year 10), Egypt-Alexandria AUT KAI-TRAI ADRIA CEB Laureate, draped, cuirassed bust right, seen from behind L DEK_ATOU Canopic jar of Osiris standing right 23mm x 25mm, 13.19g Emmett 827 (1) Ex CNG, Auction 69, June 8, 2005, Lot 1284 PS: Looks like we hit on the same ID. (click on the coin) Don.....

 

[Hadrian]

thanks Mackaydon this one is so close to the one i have

 

[Mackaydon]

I learned something in this search:
Canopic jars were stone, ceramic, or gold containers used for the viscera (removed from the body during the process of mummification) of the interred.
By the First Intermediate Period, canopic jars were made with human-headed stoppers or decorated with human-faced masks. The term canopic is a misnomer, deriving from the misconception that the jars represented the god Osiris, and were worshiped by people living in the ancient Egyptian port of Canopus.
Don....
Source: About.com AfricanHistory

 

[Hadrian]

so interesting information and coins from that far time is more and more interesting

 

[Silver Searcher]

thanks Mackaydon this one is so close to the one i have

That's because it is the coin AR Billon, it's gone that colour because the lemon juice has taken away, what silver there was, never soak Billon coins in lemon juice.

SS

 

[Hadrian]

thanks Searcher, yes you are right, now the coin began getting back to its original color but slowly !!
Roman coins are really great

 

[Ammonhotep]

Looks like a cast fake to me. Either way, I'd never clean it. I think they look better dirty.

 

[Silver Searcher]

Looks like a cast fake to me. Either way, I'd never clean it. I think they look better dirty.

What do you base your observations on the coin being a cast forgery.

SS

 

[Ammonhotep]

Silver,

Thank you for the correction; forgery was the word I should have used.

I'll preface by saying I'm no expert, as you may recall from our exchange on an Antinous I posted some time ago.

This is clearly an Alexandrian coin. Since the time of the aforementioned post I've looked at a lot of them, both online and in person. I've studied the fake files on Forvm. This coin just doesn't look right to me. Perhaps it's the cleaning, as you mentioned. Could be the photograph, or the light angle. Just my impression.

The wear doesn't seem normal. The detail looks too "deep" but without the clarity I'd expect from an unworn coin. The surfaces look too uneven. The flan for an Alexandrian coin should slope slightly outward to the reverse, which may be hard to see from the photo but which I don't think is present. The cracks in the flan look more like pits to me, whereas most of those I've seen with little wear, as the OP apparently does, have a sharpness to them. Anyway, those are some of the things I'd question ... again, as an amateur.

 

[Old Bookaroo]

Ammonhotep:

I agree! I have several shipwreck coins from the Admiral Gardner - some look like sea-salvaged coins, and some just look like cleaned coins from anywhere.

A few years ago here on TN was a fascinating story about a th'er in San Francisco who found a hoard of gold double-eagles South of Market that were in the '06 Fire and Earthquake.

He had all but one of the them professionally cleaned and - in my personal opinion - ruined as far as the story went. And without the story they were just more nice gold coins.

Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo

 

[Old Bookaroo]

SilverSearcher:

You're an expert and I'm not. Would it be helpful to see a close-up photo of the coin's edge?

Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo