I’m honestly not even sure if this is a coin. It has the earmarks of something from long ago, but it’s pretty worn, and I’m not a foreign or ancient coin expert. I did collect coins for many years, but not this genre.
A little background: I found two identical coins in my father’s jewelry box. He died back in the eighties, and this was something he left me. All his tie clasps and cufflinks and such. And these two mystery objects.
On one side it appears to show (depending on how you hold it) either an elephant or a human head in profile. There are also what appear to be letters in of either Greek or Roman origin. On the other side is perhaps an animal. Hard telling.
My stepfather was a bartender. I know he had a friend who was a coin collector, and who frequented his establishment, as he sent home a damaged Flying Eagle penny to me when I was a kid. These may have come from him.
A search for ‘ancient Greek drachma’ brought up an identical coin. Note at the bottom it’s stamped “COPY”. A closer look at my coin also has the word “copy” at the bottom, which I couldn’t make out before, but examination with my loupe makes it clearer. So, fake indeed.
My first thought about the figure is that it might be a depiction of the Minotaur (ancient mythical half-man half-bull monster from the island of Crete). However, this figure appears to be the head of a man and the body of a hooved animal, which is the opposite of the usual depiction of the Minotaur. So never mind.
