Coinstar Coin

[Riff]

This is a coin that I acquired through using my local coinstar machine about 10 years ago. It spit it out into the "rejects" bin from my change that I bring every once in a while. I live in a very small town. I had no idea of what I had but from the look of it I obviously knew it was something special. I then took it to a comic store in a slightly larger town. That's the only place I knew where to take it. There are no places to take it around here. The dude behind the counter had NO idea of what it was and basically was like, "wow that's really cool" and not much else help. He didn't seem interested at all. It was a young guy and they do comics so I suppose he just wasn't into it. Then the research started. I looked for days through google at that time to find what it was. I couldn't find anything about it. I didn't know what to search for or how to start searching as it is has a foreign language inscribed on it. (or symbols) I then gave up/lost interest out of frustration. Fast forward a few years and I came across it in my stuff and I got interested in it again. It took me weeks but I finally found it on the web. I have the bookmarks somewhere to the info but no clue where they're at atm. I have years and years worth of bookmarks. If I can find them I will follow up post them. Anyway, I'm going from memory here... The coin is a Jewish coin dated from around 200-400 A.D. I have no idea how much it's worth. I have no idea if it is legit or a replica. It sure looks legit to me. Either way it's incredible that it made it's way to ME in a TINY town from a coinstar machine. I hope you guys enjoy the pics as much as I do owning it. Enjoy!!!

Riff

(Penny for scale)

[bitbuster]

beats the hell out of the 1919 canadian large cent i found under the fabric of an old couch armrest in 1970. nice find.

[flywheel]

Bar Kochba Revolt coin?
http://www.amuseum.org/book/page19.html
http://rosenblumcoins.com/files/img/37c/28458.jpg

[Riff]

Bar Kochba Revolt coin?
http://www.amuseum.org/book/page19.html
http://rosenblumcoins.com/files/img/37c/28458.jpg

Yes I remember the word revolt in there. I just wasn't sure so I didn't put that in the post. I remember "Jewish Revolt". That's what's in my head. I will look for the bookmarks soon. Hopefully I can find them.

[Riff]

beats the hell out of the 1919 canadian large cent i found under the fabric of an old couch armrest in 1970. nice find.

lol. Thanks Bit. Believe me... My jaw dropped. I was just going about my day and pouring change into the machine... then bam. I couldn't believe it. Although I had no clue of what it was, I knew it was something special. It still amazes me even right now that it made it's way to me. I can't imagine what and were that coin has been through. People were probably using it as a penny for years. It came to me around the time I was eating BK all the time... I'd hit the drive through at 1 a.m. every night and just throw my change in a jar I had in my room. So I'm almost positive that is where it came from. Burger king!!!!! As a penny. lol

[MrWizard]

I hate to say but looks like you have a modern fake replica as can be seen at the site below.
Read lower on the page when the guy SAP chimes in he explains why it is a fake.
I could be wrong but this is what it appears to be.

http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=59602

Richard

[Riff]

I hate to say but looks like you have a modern fake replica as can be seen at the site below.
Read lower on the page when the guy SAP chimes in he explains why it is a fake.
I could be wrong but this is what it appears to be.

http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=59602

Richard

That's cool with me if it's a fake Wizard. Although I would still like to take it to someone that would know for sure, as they all seem to be a little different. Thanks for the link. I think it's cool either way and as I said the way I found it was pretty cool. I also have no intentions of selling it so the value of it doesn't matter to me either. Also sometimes replicas are still worth something. Depending on the rarity of the replica. I just love history. Even if it was made in Israel in the last fifty years that's still cool to me. I would much rather believe that it's got the history to it than value. I would also like to find out definitively the year it was made if it is a replica. They mentioned east Texas a couple of times in the link. I am also very close to the east Texas area. It's strange that these are showing up around the same area.

[escher7]

Excellent research Wiz. The inscriptions are identical to the fake coin which the experts think may have been a giveaway in a Readers Digest type contest. Unfortunate, but a 2500 year old coin is not likely to turn up in the U.S. unless in a rare coin auction.

[mastersmith]

Esher, obviously you don't eat at Burger King. That's where I got my 1987 VDB penny! I know, I was amazed also! This is the kind of stuff that makes me love this site, incredible little "odd" gems like this one.

[escher7]

Esher, obviously you don't eat at Burger King. That's where I got my 1987 VDB penny! I know, I was amazed also! This is the kind of stuff that makes me love this site, incredible little "odd" gems like this one.

Too bad it wasn't the 1909 version.

[Riff]

Excellent research Wiz. The inscriptions are identical to the fake coin which the experts think may have been a giveaway in a Readers Digest type contest. Unfortunate, but a 2500 year old coin is not likely to turn up in the U.S. unless in a rare coin auction.

At this point I do agree that it is most likely a reproduction. I knew from the first finding it that the odds of it being "real" were low. Which is what peaked my interest to find out as much as I could about it. I do disagree that is is unlikely to show up in the U.S. There are many ppl that are wealthy that collect such things that are lost/stolen daily. It is totally possible for something like this to get out in to circulation. The sheer amount of coinage being circulated daily in the U.S. is mind boggling. Who knows what can be out there. After all it was given to me as change as a penny and the cashier obviously never thought twice about giving it to me as a penny. I didn't even notice either. It was only when using the coinstar machine did I find it.