Romismatist

From my perspective it may be a pomegranate, which I has appeared on Leukippus staters of Metapontum and litrae of Taras (see Type 826, page 209 and pictures page 238 in D'Andrea's book, Volume II). Not exactly the same, but closer than a trident IMHO. Hard to really see the details on these small coins.

You could try dipping it in a hot citric acid solution for 10-20 seconds; on other coins I've found that it reduces those types of deposits.

definitely authentic

The coin looks authentic to me. I don't think that the surfaces don't show any evidence of casting bubbles, just normal crystallization and all the nicks and bumps of 2000 years.

It's a distaff (conocchia in Italian).

I would second that the flan shapes are close but not identical. They both look like genuine coins to me and are neither obverse nor reverse die matches. Nice coins!

Brilliant coin!

I would use GunBlue by Outers. https://www.outers-guncare.com/products/chemicals/cleaners-degreasers.aspx

It's typically used for cleaning gun barrels but is really good at removing deposits on silver coins. It will darken the coin, but it can then be lightened by putting it in an aluminium pie plate filled with warm salt water. You can lighten the silver depending on how long you leave it in the water.

Yes, the coin definitely looks fake even from the photos. Not enough details in the hair & beard, fields are too smooth, style just a touch off (eye & profile), does not really look struck from the lettering (metal flow lines etc). Hope you are able to get a refund.

I will echo what others have said and say the coin is definitely genuine, with a strong solid strike and great portrait. Well done for a first ancient purchase! 

Addressing the elephant in the room, I don't think that either coin is fake, they both look to be genuine examples. It is curious that they are exact obverse and reverse but it's not unheard of for genuine examples. However, this is not my collecting area of expertise, so I will defer to others that are more experienced in this field.

I read somewhere that the Doric column was a symbol used by Pyrrhus. These show up on the litrae as well as the didrachms. The other one was the elephant, which shows up on at least one didrachm issue.

I had not previously considered the symbols of Dionysius on Tarentine coinage but I suppose that hypothesis makes sense. I previously thought that the obols showing the kantharos on both sides were due to Tarentum's pottery industry and had not associated them with a specific deity.

I actually acquired a genuine but pretty beat up Domitian Domitianus some time ago but the coin split during transit so I returned it. It was something like EUR 75 in a group lot.

On 8/29/2023 at 12:21 AM, Factor said:

Volusian is amazing, excellent cleaning! With silver coins I typically apply a drop of lemon juice for a few minutes, closely monitoring the effect. But I don't know how it will work with lower silver content coins.

I tried the hot citric acid and it did the trick on the Treboanius Gallus and Philip I antoninianii. It also cleaned up the deposit on the Volusian reverse. Will take and post pictures later. Another tool to add to my coin-cleaning arsenal... always learning on this forum!

Style seems to suggest that it's not Apulian. Athens and the owl are symbols used for later bronze coinage at Tarentum (as well as earlier silver drachmae), but both the owl and Athena look different than on this coin. 

23 hours ago, ValiantKnight said:

What was your cleaning method?

It's actually a bit off the beaten track. Within North America, there is a product called "Gun Blue" which is used for cleaning firearms. It used to be available in Canadian Tire but is no longer sold (although you should still be able to find it on the Internet). I read online long ago that some people were using this to also clean coins. I've had some success using it to clean silver and billon coins. It darkens the coin (ie it's a reducing agent) but is very good at removing all kinds of deposits that would otherwise be difficult to remove and doesn't seem to be as harsh as with other chemicals.

To lighten the coins afterwards, I use a simple method involving placing warm water in an aluminum pie plate. If you dissolve table salt in the water and simply lay the coins in the water for several minutes, you can lighten the silver depending on how long you leave it in. I think it's supposed to be used for cleaning earrings and more pedestrian silverware, but it works okay for coins as well. They don't come out as shiny and burnt as with electrolysis. 

I'm wondering if I can remove the remaining copper deposits using @Roerbakmix's method of using hot citric acid for a short period of time. I've used citric acid before to successfully remove copper deposits from other coins. That would probably finish the job properly.

Hello Everyone,

A month or two ago, roughly forty 3d century silver coins, all antoninianii, showed up on EBay France. These included coins that would have been circulating concurrently and all had the same hoard patina (although some had been inexpertly cleaned). The hoard included coins of Herrenia Etruscilla, Philip I, Gordian III, Trajan Decius, Treboanius Gallus, Philip II, Otacilia Severa and Volusian. Based on this, I conclude that the hoard must have been deposited c. 251-3 AD.

This clutch of coins was posted by a seller located in Elliant, in Brittany, so I assume that the hoard was found in proximity to this location. In communicating with the seller (who appears to be more of an antiques seller, not a numismatist), he mentioned that he was selling these coins for someone who passed away and that they had amassed the coins over a number of years. Still, I'm fairly certain that these coins were all found together, as they have the same hoard patina. I'd be curious to see if you agree with this assessment.

I have been on the hunt for a passable Volusian antoninianus for some time... every one I came across in decent condition seemed too expensive, and others I could afford didn't appeal to me. I know that this is not a rare emperor, but I just hadn't come across a coin of his that I liked. However, within this hoard, there were at least three antoninianii of Volusian, and having had some success in the past at cleaning coins (although not necessarily at the level of @Roerbakmix), I decided to take the plunge on one of the Volusians to see if I could restore it to its former glory.

Here is how it looked initially:

And here is what it looked like after cleaning:

Apologies for the poor photos - I am terrible at taking them - but you should get the gist of the result. I was not successful in removing all deposits on the reverse, but the coin has a really sharp strike and the portrait is one of the best I have seen. Needless to say, I was pretty pleased with the result.

This led me to buy four more from the hoard to try my luck further: 

These results were rather more mixed: 

As before, I was not successful in removing all deposits, and in the case of the Treboannius Gallus and perhaps the Herrenia Etruscilla, the coins were struck with worn obverse dies. Still, they look a lot better than they did previously. I probably overpaid for all of them, but it was an interesting exercise at attempting to revive a few unattractive antoninianii and bag a decent specimen of Volusian for my "one of each emperor" collection in the process.

Feel free to your antoninianii or anything else you feel is relevant.

7 hours ago, Deinomenid said:

@Romismatist I took copies of photos at the time (not my own - I think they were from numismatikforum.de) but there were also others. I believe there was a trail from Roma selling  legitimate coins which were then copied (cast) and then tinted to make it less  obvious.

Many thanks for this information @Deinomenid... I knew that there were a few nomoi/staters that just didn't feel right, but I never captured any images. This definitely helps.

Like you, I plan to be more careful when hunting nomoi / staters from Taras / Tarentum in future.

@Deinomenid , do you have a picture of the Taras fake you mentioned from Roma? I collect coinage from that mint and would be interested in seeing it.

Here are a few fakes I've come across; the first is a Taras diobol offered by an Irish EBay fake seller. I never wound up buying it because I did the research beforehand.

Here's one which I've shown before, a semis from Brundisium. There is usually not a lot of forgery for this rather minor Magna Grecian mint, but I've come across at least two types so far, this being the more common. I did buy one of these coins nearly two decades ago and returned it for a full refund when the patina "washed off"; as you can see it has been offered over the years with a variety of patinas:

This last one was offered more recently by Artemide Aste. You can tell they're getting a lot better with distressing the coin to make it appear ancient.

Here is the second fake I've encountered from Brundisium. It's also an older one, but I knew it was off because Phalanthos on the reverse only holds a chalice in the first series which doesn't use pellets to denote the denomination. Also the style is off. Edgar Owen bought one like this, and still has it in his collection as genuine I believe. The details weren't as soapy on his example - this one clearly looks like a cast fake with casting bubbles and soft details.

looks fake to me

Here is a definitely fake semis of Brundisium... I have seen several of these come on the market over the past decade or two with a variety of different patinas. I actually bought one of these with a black patina, then returned the coin after I found that the patina had been painted on. The second fake pictured has a completely wrong style and pellets showing it is a biuncia but the weight is completely wrong. That one was also sold a decade or so ago and the buyer still believes it is genuine (although it's not).

Awesome coin reference book, and thanks for letting us all know about it @Ocatarinetabellatchitchix!

There are a couple of these type of projects that I've been involved with that I will also post about later this summer. It would be great if others posted about similar resources occasionally; I see a lot of coins posted, but it would be great to learn more about all the reference works (especially unique ones like this one) as well!

Agree with @curtislclay and others - the details on both obverse and reverse are too soft to be struck, in my opinion. Another one that made it through to the auction houses... I would raise it with Noonans...

Cool theory and interesting sleuthing, @kirispupis. I hope that others with more expertise in this area can weigh in with their thoughts. Fascinating read, as usual.

definitely genuine