I recently found this coin and I was wondering if you anyone can help me figure out if it's real or not. It looks like it's been cleaned but I'm not sure. I don't have the weight of the coin. My gut says fake but I'm wanting to be wrong. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Yours looks like a reproduction of this: http://numismatics.org/pocketchange/fishsmouth/ Disclaimer: I'm not an expert. Wait for them to chime in
Your photos are rather blurry, but what I can see is not encouraging. I would suggest a) taking better-focused photos, and then b) posting in the Ancients forum here, to increase the chances that our ancients experts will see it.
I agree with Parthicus. The out-of-focus images are almost useless. We need better pictures. However, even with the burry images the obverse looks suspiciously like this and other fakes shown in Forum Ancient Coin's fakes gallery: Betting that it is fake would not win anyone much money. I don't recall ever seeing one that wasn't fake when posted by a newcomer asking if his or her Tyrian shekel was authentic. Edited to add cropped and joined images of the OP's coin. It is a match to the cast fake shown above. Better images are not going to change the verdict.
Yeah, fake, I'm afraid. Are you the same "Drizzt" who used to post on the CU forums long ago? The username is familiar. Had a dragon for an avatar, as I recall (one of the small, ancient stock avatars from the old site).
I assume since these shekels were supposed to be the 30 pieces of silver Judas got for betraying Christ, that they must have tons of fakes in order to fool suckers due to his potential of popularity
Yes! The most faked coins are those that appeal to people who do not collect coins and a major subset of these are the coins mentioned in the Bible. The big three are the Tribute Penny, Widow's Mite and 30 Pieces of Silver. There are enough genuine Widow's Mites to supply demand but that has not stopped fakers from making millions more. The Tiberius denarius traditionally associated with the Tribute Penny scriptures should be cheap compared to other 1st century denarii because it is so common but demand from Christian non-collectors requires millions of fakes be added to the supply chain. I am surprised we don't hear more about the 30 Pieces shekels because the same coin makes another appearance in the New Testament when Jesus tells Peter to look inside a fish for a full shekel which would pay the half shekel Temple Tax for both of them. Matthew 14, 24-27 Many fakes come back from Holy Land tours as treasured possessions of people of faith who accept them without question. Fakes do better when there are no questions.
Yeah. Funny you mentioned widows mites. I came across some repros before.. Some guy was askin quite a bit for them.
