Hare / Octopus

Description

Obverse: Hare springing left; lagobolon above, locust on exergue line belows; [MEΣΣANIΩN] around
Reverse: Octopus

Fake? Not mentioned in the Aphrodite sale, but I knew it was ex-Roma twice, and it did actually come with the Roma tags. Roma Numismatics seem to have listed it as real twice though it never sold, but it now it appears a "Paduan type" in an Aphrodite Art Coins auction 3 years later. Interesting but not sure what to make of it. The octopus definetly looks off though, espescially the way the top right two tentacles intersect. I haven't ever seen an octopus like that. Maybe underweight as well, but hard to tell as the weights for these have varied. It is not a die match to any examples I know as well. Update: A dicussion had on https://www.numisforums.com/topic/8769-a-fake-messana-hare-octopus-tetras/ leads me to believe this is indeed a fake. Amentia has provided another coin with the same dies which do not match any known prior examples with provenance, and as well shows that the obverse die was stylistically incorrect as well.

Details

Numista Reference

Provenance