Silver medallion

[Terra1959]

Gday

Unfortunately I only had 2 x 3hour hunts this last week.
But I was lucky enough to find this unusual silver medallion..
..my Xt70 just loves silver and I am a sucker for those lovely high tone signals
Is was quite dirty and so I have cleaned it with silver polish.
It is not stamped but is silver.
It says TEAHTAN or YEAHTAN ?
Lettering appears to Greek or Roman ?
Does anyone know anything about its origin ?
Thanks...happy swinging

Terra59

 

[Mobius]

I assume that you've seen these links? Might be an ancient silver Greek drachma (or replica).

http://books.google.com/books?id=qxoLAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA228&lpg=PA228&dq=teahtan+coin&source=bl&ots=Iezl7dEqHz&sig=TqxWrnR4b0HB8AVBZk98P3JR_V8&hl=en&ei=-HNfTKeQEZDWtQOd_82pCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=teahtan&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=RsthIvvQYBkC&pg=PA67&lpg=PA67&dq=TEAHTAN+greek&source=bl&ots=QTeP69QTLp&sig=T5v8lKAAgaDBmhjhzemhk6sFmf0&hl=en&ei=v3RfTIuvMIrSsAOFpuipCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CCUQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=TEAHTAN&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=L50N80gzNLIC&pg=PA8&lpg=PA8&dq=YEAHTAN+GREEK&source=bl&ots=e07NGBX3jl&sig=RQjP_xd-ATk5nrYuAwzIg1PwYqI&hl=en&ei=XHVfTPjEIYu8sQOf8eyqCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=YEAHTAN&f=false

http://silvercoinand.com/money-in-ancient-greece-drachma.html

 

[Terra1959]

Thanks Mobius
I had seen just one of those before when trying to research it.
The medallion is kind of convex on one side and concave on the other.
Would it still be likely to be a coin ?
It is also not perfectly round, but a bit irregular.

T59

 

[Snoopy36]

hey stranger

Post it on this Ancient Coin Forum
http://www.coinpeople.com/index.php?showforum=245

They may be able to help you there. you'll have to join the forum first though.

Cheers
Snoop

 

[Terra1959]

Fancy meeting u here Mr Snoopterra

Thanks mate

T59

 

[Mick in Dubbo]

That's a beauty Terra. It must have been part of a guys necklace. Ain't it great to dig silver!
Mick Evans.

 

[Beale]

Congrats on the very good find! Looks to be old, Beale.

 

[Mobius]

The ancient coins that I've seen in personal collections and museums look more rough and uneven. It's an amazing find and you might want to consider it being identified and certified. Even if it's a reproduction (I recall a company in a US Mall that reproduces Greek and Roman jewelery containing various coins and stones-looks similar to your pendant), it still looks cool. I have a good friend who is Greek, I'll see if he knows the word on the coin. I suspect that it's the name of a ruler or perhaps die cast engraver. When those coins were struck, a slave would literally place a bit of silver (gold, etc) between dies and then hit the casts with a hammer to imprint the image. This created coins that looks like squished play-dough, with much variability. The soft malleability of the coins also meant that they bent and wore over time. Billions were struck too. It never ceases to amaze me how affordable many of these ancient coins are. There are simply millions in private hands, with hordes found almost annually.

Here's a more modern method of striking coins manually:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0gSNjjrzbE

Written article on die casting and pressing coins:

http://www.fleur-de-coin.com/articles/ancientcoinminting.asp

 

[1859large]

Here is my educated guess. It is a tourist type item brought back from Greece by an Aussie descendant of Greek parentage, back to visit the homeland and bought as a statement "my people where from here and hence I am Greek".

The writing is Greek. Many Greeks left their home during a very dirty civil war after WW2 for Australia.

Always nice to find something shiney.

hh 1859

 

[utmike]

Nice find! Congrats!