Strange token or emblem

DStars10

Tenderfoot
Jan 15, 2019
8
22
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
76466B59-50D7-455A-A054-5A49C4756EEE.png

Hoping someone can help with an ID on this token I found today. Quarter size. Obverse and reverse are identical. Found at a church somewhat close to an old gravesite. The church isn’t all that old but the graves are late 1800s. It was only a couple inches down.

Any help much appreciated!


Edit: Updated photo after clean-up and image enhancement to make features clearer

token.png
 

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Welcome to Tnet Dstars! :hello:
There are a couple of things we have to figure our before we can determine what the purpose and original use was of this piece.

What type of metal is it cast from?
- looks like bronze or brass to me.

What was the country of origin?
- almost looks to be Hawaiian or from the South Pacific Region.

What was it originally made for... trade, worship or good luck. :icon_scratch:

Best of luck in getting your mystery token solved,
Dave
 

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I'm not being glib here but staring into the large detail at the bottom, at 8 o'clock seems to be a humanoid form punching a jackrabbit in the face. At 7 o'clock there's an animal like figure that seems to be biting the rabbit's foot. Image at 3 o'clock may be the tail of a large lizard. I took the 3 characters over the scene are possibly Arabic. Perhaps a depiction of something from Arabic literature, like a fable or legend. Or maybe just a bunch of squiggles.

Cool find and welcome to TNet!
 

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I'm not being glib here but staring into the large detail at the bottom, at 8 o'clock seems to be a humanoid form punching a jackrabbit in the face. At 7 o'clock
there's an animal like figure that seems to be biting the rabbit's foot. Image at 3 o'clock may be the tail of a large lizard. I took the 3 characters over the scene
as possibly Arabic. Perhaps a depiction of something from Arabic literature, like a fable or legend. Or maybe just a bunch of squiggles!

Cool find and welcome to TNet!

I was thinking Arabic as a strong possibility for the three characters as well, or something Middle Eastern. I know some Hebrew and the lettering looks very similar to Hebrew script.
 

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My first Impression Ancient India . But Arabic is possible
 

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Neat looking token. Here's hoping you can get an I'D on it soon.
 

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Looks Arabic ...
Seems I've seen this token before.
I'm not to good at searching, but maybe a deep dive here might show something.

Just a heads up.... I'm sure you weren't, but We don't hunt Graveyards or Grave sites and don't like hearing of them being hunted.
It's kind of desecrating the Dead. Just trying to keep you from getting in a heated discussion over it.


and Welcome to TreasureNet
 

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Thanks, HuntinDog. Hoping someone else has seen this before too and has an idea of what it is. Maybe some of the multilingual folks on the forum could help provide a starting point at least with the three characters. I've done some digging on the forums, but haven't turned up much that looks similar. Could be my own research shortcomings though.

Just to be clear, I was not (and would not) dig grave sites. I only mentioned the graves nearby to give a possible time period point of reference. The token was found a good distance from a small plot on the church grounds.
 

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take your second pic.... locate 12 o'clock position and rotate it to the 3 o'clock position. you can make out a face or head, with hair, eye, nose, lips, chin. I've seen these before. They are a cast token or fantasy coin that is supposed to represent an ancient coin such as a Greek coin or some such. I can't remember what they go to but are either a piece from a board game or was just part of a bag of 'treasure' coins from a party supply store.
 

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While it is popular to make art out of Arabic letters, I read Arabic and can't make one word out of it. It can be pretty difficult to read the artwork as a non native Arabic speaker, but Arabic letters connect to one another and I can't see much of a resemblance, other than one could possibly look like "Allah" if I really use my imagination...If it is Arabic, it's something I've never seen.
 

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Its a face. I see it very clearly. Its a Roman or a Greek. But I would say its a very poor cast replica of an ancient Roman or Greek coin or fantasy piece. There is no writing of any kind on this token.
 

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Its a face. I see it very clearly. Its a Roman or a Greek. But I would say its a very poor cast replica of an ancient Roman or Greek coin or fantasy piece. There is no writing of any kind on this token.

Greek. Possibly Antiochus IV (fake).

Antiochos_IV_Epiphanes_face.png
 

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Dang
I knew I'd seen that before.
And now that BigCypress said it... I can't NOT see the face.
Thanks for blowing the cobwebs off my addled brain.
 

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Thanks to all for the info. I also can’t believe I didn’t see the face at first. Sounds to me like I have an interesting and worthless coin. I appreciate the help with the ID!
 

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Thanks to all for the info. I also can’t believe I didn’t see the face at first. Sounds to me like I have an interesting and worthless coin. I appreciate the help with the ID!

Die cast fantasy piece, same on both sides, makes me think it was a token from a board game. It cant be a coin without a denomination. And its too poor a casting for a fake or replica. Its some kind of child's fantasy piece is my guess. It may be vintage. It was probably very shiny when new.
 

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