Bad Fakes

While some fakes are difficult to identify, others are very easy to spot. This is particularly true of copies made for the tourist market. These coins tend to be rough and less technically accomplished than those examined so far. Often tourists purchasing 'souvenirs' are less interested in authenticity, and instead purchase copies as a tangible reminder of a place or experience. 

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13) Coin of Lysimachus C.191

Base Metal, Tourist Fake of Hellenistic Coin, 323 BC - 281 BC, 450-330 BC

Gift of Mr GD Story, Brisbane, 1992. Part of the Gordon Story Collection of Ancient Artefacts, Brisbane, before 1982. 

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14) Coin of Alexander C.250

Brass?, Tourist Fake of Hellenistic Coin, after 323 BC

Gift of Ms D Doyle, Brisbane, 2013. Collected by Mr H Ohayan, Petra, Jordan, prior to 2003. 

Coins made for the tourist market are often cast (whereas ancient coins were usually struck) and are made out of inaccurate materials. The resulting coins tend to lack the sharp details of originals, and the appearance of the metal does not match their genuine counterparts. These practices are amply demonstrated by Coins 13 & 14. Both are poor imitations of a common Hellenistic silver coin known as a Tetradrachm, illustrated in Coin 15. The fakes presented here show all the signs of poor quality casting: the wrong material, fuzzy details, filed edges, damaged surfaces and inconsistent thicknesses. In addition, both were purchased by tourists before being donated to the Museum. 

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15) Tetradrachm of Lysimachus C.019

Silver, Hellenistic, Asia Minor, 306-281 BC

Purchased from Munzen und Medaillen AG, Basel, 1967.