Where is this coin from?

nice find there Marduk, thanks for the clarification

Originally posted by Realtruth
A little info on Roman Coins. This one is not a fake, but appears to have had the patina removed and possibly polished.

So you think this is a genuine coin, but now with new evidence it is probably Greek and not Roman?

I tried finding pictures that were posted earlier of the Hera/Hercules coins but couldn't find any that were similar. They are called Krotons?

It is for sure Greek, but what date I don't know.

Originally posted by Sanitys Last Day

Originally posted by Realtruth
A little info on Roman Coins. This one is not a fake, but appears to have had the patina removed and possibly polished.

So you think this is a genuine coin, but now with new evidence it is probably Greek and not Roman?

I tried finding pictures that were posted earlier of the Hera/Hercules coins but couldn't find any that were similar. They are called Krotons?

Bruttium was settled by the greeks around 550bce
it was conquered by the romans about 230 years later
so this coin can only have been made between about 500 and 300bce
as I actually already dated the coins in my first post to between 500bce and 300bce I now feel the need to elaborate a little more
on one side of the coin reclining is heracles (Roman Hercules)
on the other is his mother Hera (Roman Juno)

thesedays Bruttium is called Calabria
heres wiki
en.wikipedia.org...

Calabria was first settled by Italic Oscan-speaking tribes. Two of these tribes included the Oenotri (roughly translated into the "vine-cultivators") and the Itali. Greek contact with the latter resulted in the entire peninsula (modern Italy) taking the name of the tribe.

of course this doesn't mean that the coin is genuine
it could just as easily be a contemporary copy
and the patina is indicative of this
but really
only a coin dealer could give you a proper appraisal
if you do that make sure you tell him that you just want it valued and make sure that he knows its a family heirloom which you have no desire to sell
otherwise hes likely to tell you its worthless and he'll take it off your hands for a dollar

Originally posted by Brock Landers
It looks like the coins in 300, that crappy new movie.

care to expand on that statement? I thought it was an awesome movie and extremely entertaining. Maybe you are bitter because it was not historically correct, as the movie was meant to be based on frank millers graphic novel and not history.

I'm no expert, but for some reason, perhaps the style, your coin is screaming "Roman" to me. For the sake of your finances, I hope it's something else. Roman coins are actually fairly plentiful, so they aren't worth a lot. A friend's dad has a Roman coin that can be accurately dated due to the face of the emperor on it, and it's something like 2000 years old. It's worth fifty bucks or so. It's more valuable as a really cool keepsake than for any material worth.

Perhaps a local coin shop could tell you more. I don't know whether they would know anything about a coin that is as old as this one appears to be, though. I've been in coin shops once or twice, when I used to collect them, and I don't ever remember seeing anything older than about 200 years on display.

I'm no expert, but for some reason, perhaps the style, your coin is screaming "Roman" to me

that'll be why its got a greek Goddess on one side and a Greek demi god on the other then
thanks for that

perhaps you'd care to read through the entire thread next time before claiming youre no expert

Yes, I should have read it all, I suppose :p At least my claim that I'm not an expert has been borne out! Good thing I didn't claim to actually know what I was talking about; as it is, my guess just got completely proven wrong, and I look foolish for not having read everything.

Someday I will be smart and not do stuff like this. And on that day, mankind will be at peace and harmony, every country and race one with another. It will be a good day...

Someday I will be smart and not do stuff like this. And on that day, mankind will be at peace and harmony, every country and race one with another. It will be a good day...

well we live in hope
everyone makes mistakes
on the day that stops satan will be skating to work

I'm thinking you may have found a plant.

rg.ancients.info...

Indications of a cast counterfeit:

* With clay, sand, and plaster casting, soapy or slippery surfaces, soft or missing details, and round, mushy boundaries where the devices and legends meet the coin's field (the angle should be close to 90 percent). However, these characteristics may not be present or present as visibly in high-quality casts made with other methods, including lost wax casting (can be used in conjunction with other casting methods), pressure casting, centrifugal casting, and vacuum casting.
* A seam around the edge where the two sides of the mold joined together. However, depending on the casting method used, the seam can be removed before or after the coin is cast. If removed afterward by filing and polishing, filing or polishing marks are sometimes visible, particularly under a microscope, and the edge often winds up too smooth or flat. On the other hand, ancient coins made from cast flans may show evidence of a casting seam.
* Small pits into the coin's surface or small bumps rising up from it, both caused by air bubbles created during the casting process. However, these artifacts may not appear if pressure, centrifugal, or vacuum casting was used. Also, genuine coins often show some pitting, or porosity, caused by corrosion, though these pits are typically sharper at their edges, wider at their openings, and less round than pits caused by casting. Genuine coins can also have small bumps if made from rusty or worn dies.
* Light weight (or sometimes too heavy). However, genuine ancient coins often exhibit a fairly large range of weights, more so with bronze coins than silver coins, more so with silver coins than gold coins.

This is a very interesting site, and tells of how to go about stopping fraud. I found it amazing someone operated on Ebay for 4 years, undetected. The dead give away for me was a reminder in how ancient coins are struck. With repetitive force, requiring sharp angles.

Are you guys sure that's a Hera? Because it sort of looks like a Medusa's head, at least one of the ways it's represented.

yeah youre soooo right

Originally posted by Tom BedlamBecause it sort of looks like a Medusa's head, at least one of the ways it's represented.

Yes, I am, thank you for noticing.

Not every Gorgonian coin represents Medusa as having snakes in her hair or her tongue sticking out. As I stated in my first post.

yes that very interesting
how many of these medusa head coins also have hercules on the other side

Originally posted by Marduk
yes that very interesting
how many of these medusa head coins also have hercules on the other side

True, that is pretty clearly a Hercules. But it's a godawfully ugly Hera.

Edit: It looks like Hercules has a bad case of gynecomastia on this coin. Maybe it's the Xena version.

[edit on 26-3-2007 by Tom Bedlam]

300 happens to one of the best movies EVAR!!!!
gaaarrrrrr

Around the turn of the century, there was a resurgence of interest in anything Ancient Greek. It was called Classical Revival or the Classical era, or something like that.There were many reproduction items made to resemble Greek pottery, glass ware, you name it. There were also lucky peices made out of pot metal, a zinc tin alloy. These were electroplated with cheap alloy silver and sold very cheaply all over the place. They looked like Greek coins, or at least what people thought that Greek coins would look like. They were cast,plated and on the street in no time at all.
I had one myself when I was young, and was a bit annoyed when I finally got it's real history. The tell tale signs are(1) crude and inflated looking figures (2) nonsense writing or scripting on the circumference (3) electroplate peeling (4) flash mark on edge of the coin/medallion. Flash is the seepage out from the mold that has to be trimed off. If you see flash or a knife or file mark under the silver, you know it was cast.

To the original poster:

The coin is a reproduction, probably a souvenir of some sort though. Realize I base my opinion on this having previously been an Ancient and Medieval Numismatist for a number of years. The general wear patterns are not what you would find on a Greek or Roman coins, and the reverse side is too bold to be ancient.

Also, one of the biggest indicators that the coin is a reproduction is the way in which the coin was produced. Both Greek and Roman coins were produced using the "hammering" method whereas two metal molds would be cut with the design, then the coin would be heated and placed between the molds. Then someone would literally take a hammer and pound the molds once or twice to get the impression on the coins surface. Now, if you look at the coin displayed in the picture it clearly shows signs of being cast. Casting is a method of pouring liquid metal into a mold and letting it cool, and this method was rarely used in the production of ancient coinage. A strong indication that it is a Cast coin is the "wavy lines" on the surface of the coin (both on the image itself and on the surface), whereas a hammered coin would have no lines or straight lines radiating from the center. If you look at the obverse (face side) of the coin you will see these same wavy lines on the cheek bones and forehead of the individual represented on the coin. This is not consistant with common wear patterns that appear on ancient coins, and actually is another strong indication that the wear patterns that appear on the coin were actually placed there intentionally. If wear was of a consistant pattern then those wavy lines of metal on the highest points of the surface would be completely smooth.

Now, the argument could be made that those lines are caused by a porous surface, which has been known to happen. However, porous surfaces on coinage are completely different in appearance than a Cast coin when shown in comparison. This alone is a strong indicator that this coin is a reproduction...especially when coupled with the fact it shows evidence of having been electroplated, cleaned, and possibly treated in a chemical bath.

Here is one website that shows some common counterfeiting methods (there are a couple of different pages showing things to look out for...read through it for detailed information):

Identifying fake ancient coins

[edit on 21-8-2007 by Jazzerman]