Unknown Silver Coin

[Lucky Eddie]

Anyone able to shed any light on the age and if possible any value to this old silver coin?

I suspect it to be Roman in origin from the head and eagle on the obverse side.

Just curious I guess as to its likely age and if any - what value it might hold.

About all I know is that it came back here to Oz with a Great Uncle who was stationed in Egypt during WW1, I believe. My Grandfather handed it down to me. It was given to him by the Great Uncle as a kid.

There's 3 'similar' (but smaller) hand struck bronze coins with it but they are in worse shape - I can't make out much details on them.

I took these pics with a Lumix Digital camera and cropped them down in size a bit on MS Paint before uploading them.

The Museum of Mankind in London gave some info to my Mother about 30 years ago about the coins but no one wrote anything down at the time and she's in her late 80's now with short and long term memory problems - so the coins are going down the family line to my son, but I don't know anything much about them to pass on to him.

Sorry they are crap focused photos.. I just previewed this - they look better smaller (zoomed out more).

Dunno how to photo them any sharper... its a auto focus camera.

Many thanks in advance.

 

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[HistoryHunter22]

Kinda looks like Ceaser to me

 

[HistoryHunter22]

Jus read sumthin about americas first real world currency being silver coins! Had nothing to iffer other civilizations... Would be a cool piece of history to own if it checked out!!

 

[HistoryHunter22]

Did some search!!!! Its roman... Look up silver radiant crown coin, got a few good hit but cant seem to find the back tho!!!!! Congrats enjoy fill me in when you find out more info

 

[cudamark]

Maybe back away from the coin a little bit to get it to focus better.

 

[Mackaydon]

Read off the letters in the sequence you see them. Place a dash mark (---) where you cannot read the letter.
Interesting coin, for sure.
Don....

 

[Lucky Eddie]

I have been holding it under a big magnifying glass, and I am wearing my magnifying reading glasses.
I still can't make out the letters on it!.
I am too blind, I think....
83 YO Mum tells me in a rare lucid moment today she thinks the museum of mankind in London when she took it there in the 1970's - told her it was Roman and dated form around 250AD!
She said the 3 small bronze ones are older but in worse condition and from around 150 AD!
I'll try for better photos.

There are the remnants of letters there BUT being hand struck they are near the rough edges and either full of crud or worn away - I just can't make out any individual letters..

 

[HistoryHunter22]

Lucid thats the word i was looking for!!! Thank u lucky!!!

 

[Lucky Eddie]

I did the search on silver radiant crown on google images- heaps of old roman coins... a few with a VERY similar head but not the radiant crown - most had a laurel leaf type crown.
The weird thing is non that had a head anything like this one had the eagle on the 0bverse side!.
I couldn't find ONE decent match!
Surely its not the only one of its kind to survive?

 

[HistoryHunter22]

I thought the same thing!!! Found numerous look alikes from the front that coulda matched but i cant find one back that looks like it has any kind of feathers

 

[HistoryHunter22]

I thought it might have been one the the Charles 111 from Spain.... Unless u got the only one in existence so far!!

 

[HistoryHunter22]

Winner winner chicken dinner!!!!!!

 

[HistoryHunter22]

Congrats dude[emoji106][emoji106][emoji106] beautiful coin!!!

 

[wagbert]

The Roman Empire included most of the Middle East at one time or another. Rome allowed local coinages to continue even though the Emperor Of Rome was Head of State. Egypt was the last colonial territory to make tetradrachms. By the 3rd century A.D. they were miserable little things about the diameter of a U.S. nickle, only thicker. These were supposed to have some silver in them. They look bronze and are made with an alloy called potin. Your coin is earlier, since it has a silvery appearance. So we go back a hundred years and look for local issues. The spikes coming from the emperor's head denote the Emperor is "all knowing" and powerful. This representation was used because the emperor was a direct contact to the gods and head of the Roman cults. Earlier coins usually have initials on them somewhere to denote that the Emperor was the head Pontiff.
Does your coin have PP or PM in the legend somewhere? We also see a standing Eagle on the reverse. Similar reverses were used though out the Levant regions. The overall appearance of the coin remind me of Imperial tetradrachms of the Province of Antioch. This is the Antioch in Syria at the time. There has been a lot of discussion where Antioch was, and somewhere along the line it was discovered that there were at least three cities named Antioch in ancient times. I am no expert, but I am guessing that if your coin wasn't minted for Roman Egypt, it may be a City-State issue from Antioch. As you said, not all of the lettering in the legends can be read. Many times though the craftsmen preparing the coinage dies worked with official sketches, so the consistency of the artwork was pretty good. There are many variations of course,
especially if the Emperor ruled several years. Then the die-sinkers would show the man aging. Nero was a good example of that. Although he didn't live very long because of his "Iron handed" rule, he was just a lad when he inherited the purple. (Nero ruled 54-68 A.D.) According to the catalogs Vespasian and Trajan were also emperors who were on colonial and provincial coinages. There are plenty of on-line sites that will help you correctly identify your coin. Try "wildwinds.com", that's the best!
If you can post better photos in the way of lighting and magnification, I am sure there are people here who can fill in the legends by comparing the style of your piece to coins they have or may have had some familiar contact with. I should also mention that many Roman coins issued for the Provinces are written in Greek.
I think it is a very interesting coin, especially how you came to own it and that you are going to entrust your heirs the honor of curating a true ancient coin.
Best Regards,
Phil

 

[HistoryHunter22]

Going off my research i would bet my left [emoji270][emoji270] on that its the Nero65 A.D coin i found hahaha j/k...... Unless from what i get from ur post is that it could be a re-make?

 

[Mackaydon]

I think History Hunter nailed it.Here's another version:

Classical Numismatic Group - Electronic Auction 346, Lot 285 Sold: March 11, 2015 for $180 USD EGYPT, Alexandria. Nero. AD 54-68. BI Tetradrachm (26mm, 12.70 g, 12h). Dated RY 11 (AD 64/65). Radiate bust right, wearing aegis / AV TOKPA, eagle standing left, palm frond behind; L IA (date) in left field. Köln 163-6; Dattari (Savio) 270; K&G 14.82; RPC I 5283; Emmett 118.11. VF, toned, some encrustation and light porosity. From a Hungarian Collection formed primarily in the 1930's. Estimate: 100 USD...

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Don...... (click on the coins)

 

[Lucky Eddie]

Thanks so much -you guys are great!

This last one is exactly it from what I can tell.

I'm going to copy down this info - print it out and keep it with the coin for future reference!.

Thank you sincerely, one and all, again!.