Dear Bob,
I myself have searched some sites of ancient Canaanite, Byzantine, Greek, Roman, etc. coins and there is not one coin that is original ancient that in anyway resembles the so-called coin the Anthro. student has. I vote it is a "modern" cast. One element of his 'medallion' that struck me was the cast loop at the top for a chain. You will not find this on ancient coins. The edges of this 'medallion' are also too uniform, and the cow/bull rendering just looks suspiciously poorly made. I could go on, but you get the gist. Not ancient.
Dr. Elizabeth J. [log in to unmask]
On Monday, December 12, 2016 6:25 PM, jamesggibb <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
I'd focus on Arts & Crafts movement.
Sent from my Verizon 4G LTE smartphone
-------- Original message --------
From: Charles Neel <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 12/12/16 4:36 PM (GMT-05:00)
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: please help identify this coin-pendant? Canaanite? Celtic? Fake?
I VOTE FOR MODERN
Charles Neel
Senior Archaeologist
10100 North Central Expressway, Suite 160
Dallas, Texas 75231
Office: 214-741-2252
Cell: 214-478-4424
-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Bob Skiles
Sent: Monday, December 12, 2016 2:37 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: please help identify this coin-pendant? Canaanite? Celtic? Fake?
Folks,
The provenance of this item is little-known (belongs to an aspiring anthropology student who asked my help to identify it; his only information is that it was LIKELY "unearthed" along the Rio Grande in Texas several decades ago). I am hopeful that SOMEONE will recognize this, or be able to at least provide a clue to its possible origin (and/or authenticity).
My guessing (so far ... and let me say I have absolutely NO expertise in numismatics, and especially not even a smidgeon in the coinage of the Old World):
The main elements on the obverse (the "gamboling" young bullock, the seven circles or rings which MAY possibly be interpreted as "eyes," and the upthrust phallus-shaped tail of the bullock) may all be symbols alluding to the Canaanite god Baal (as in the one referred to in the Bible as a "golden calf"). If this is a genuine ancient bronze "hammered" coin, it is amazingly [almost unbelievably so] "centered." It has had a suspension-loop attached (soldered on) at a later date (perhaps by a modern jeweler), which may also account for the tooling marks seen on a small portion of the edge (that at first glance appear possibly to be the machined "reeding" of modern coins, but since it is not continuous, may also be simply the marks made by the jaws of a vice that gripped the item securely whilst the loop was attached) ... as well as the gilding (which is mostly worn-off)?
In any case, the /verso/ is not as well-preserved, but appears to have some type of inscription in an alphabet that I do not recognize. Do you recognize this as script?
In your opinion, is this pendant made of a genuine ancient coin, or is it a modern fake?
Image here:
http://skiles.net/golden-calf-coin-pendant.jpg
|