"Coin" identification

[minedanlab]

Greetings everyone,

I have just relocated to the Czech Republic with my spouse, who happens to be a native. The Czech Republic has a very rich history, so I began exploring with a metal detector. My searches have led me to uncover various items such as badges, cartridges, coins, dog tags, and rings, all dating back to World War II and the Austro-Hungarian eras. Today's find has left me puzzled, and I would appreciate your help in identifying it.

I found a "something" shaped like a coin. I write "something" because I don't know if it's actually a coin or something to play with. I found it in a deciduous forest, approx. 10 cm underground. It weighs 2 grams, and the color resembles silver or aluminum. There is some text and a face on it. It looks like ancient Greece.





What do you think about this? Could it be some sort of commemorative coin, badge, or something from modern times? After cleaning it left such yellow marks. Can you tell what kind of material it is? I used an Equinox 900 and had a steady 46-48 signal.

 

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[minedanlab]

I did some more searching on the internet yesterday, and it seems that this is a replica of an Ancient Greek coin. I just don't understand why it was underground in a completely remote location. According to historical maps, there was either a lake or a swamp there in the 19th century. It's a big mystery to me.

Does anyone have any idea what a real ancient Greek silver coin weighs?

 

[Mackaydon]

Weights and Denominations​

Below are the weights of Ancient Greek coins:

• Attic standard: derived from the Athenian, 4.3-gram silver drachma
• Corinthian: derived from the 8.6-gram silver stater, subsequently divided into three silver 2.9-gram drachma
• Aeginetan stater: 12.2-gram didrachm, derived from 6.1 gram drachma

Ancient Greek coins were valued in “drachmae” (meaning “handful”) and “obols” (meaning “spit” or “rotisserie”). Six obols are worth one drachma. Below are the denominations of Ancient Greek coins:

• Dekadrachm: were worth 10 drachmae, weighing 43 grams
• Tetradrachm: were worth 4 drachmae, weighing 17.2 grams
• Didrachm: were worth 2 drachmae, weighing 8.6 grams
• Drachma: were worth 6 obols, weighing 4.3 grams
• Tetrobol: were worth 4 obols, weighing 2.85 grams
• Triobol: were worth 3 obols, weighing 2.15 grams
• Diobol: were worth 2 obols, weighing 1.43 grams

Don in SoCal

 

[kitkatcjb]

Well, as an amateur treasure hunter, I think ALL finds are treasures. But I believe you have found a treasure. I find it interesting that "Minedanlab" says there was a lake in that area at one time, and that the coin was found underground. Because it looks Greek or Roman, I would look back in your biblical history & see what countries the Czech Republic was part of during the Greek & Roman empires. I used Google lens and came up with several coins that looked similar but not exact.

 

[Gare]

Nice finds Thanks for sharing with us . Good luck in your future hunts !! Welcome to a very fine forum 11

 

[Nikinho1]

Ha, nice one, even if it’s a replica, it’s a nice find!
Could you tell me smthng please - is the law friendly to people with metal detectors in Czech Republic? Im from Poland and here we have very draconian law in this case, it’s even possible to end up in jail👀. So I’m thinking, as I have very close to the Czech border, it’s not bad idea to visit southern neighbors more often🙂 If the law is okay about that, but I don’t think anyone would like to copy polish absurdity😅
Anyway, wish you more interesting founds pal!

 

[Mackaydon]

Right now, I'd call it a fantasy coin. If a real coin can be shown that is similar to this 'coin', I'd then call the OP's a replica.
Don in SoCal.

 

[Red-Coat]

Right now, I'd call it a fantasy coin. If a real coin can be shown that is similar to this 'coin', I'd then call the OP's a replica.
Don in SoCal.

Agree... it looks like a fantasy, perhaps styled on a tetradrachm of Phillip II.

For the two soldiers on the reverse, the one on the right has a Roman 'scutum', and perhaps the one on the left is a Greek soldier. Maybe they're shaking hands in accord, but I can't find anything similar for the Greek-speaking part of the Roman Empire.

The legend is ostensibly in Greek lettering but it doesn't make sense and the orientation of the letters is all over the place. At the left I see Σ Π Γ Δ but not all in the same orientation and on the right a V (the Greek character would be the other way up as Λ) and a curious square 'sigma-like' character that doesn't appear in the ancient Greek alphabet. Between those two I see what looks like 'I R I', but there is no 'R' character in Greek.