seek foreign coin ID

[port ewen ace]

3.5MM thick, 18.6MM diameter, weighs 7.1 grams, color appears to be pewter. pics are obverse, reverse in coin and medal orientation.




RED COAT---- what say you

 

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[Red-Coat]

Can’t give you an exact ID, but it appears to be a Greek copper/bronze which could likely be anywhere between the 2nd Century BC and the 2nd Century AD. Greece had been a Roman colony since 146 BC. These low denomination coins are usually just classified by diameter because of our modern uncertainty about how they fitted into ancient currency systems.

This would be the correct orientation for the obverse, and it then becomes apparent as a rugged hirsute face lookin to the right with braided hair tucked into a hair band (a style generally referred to in Greece as a “kobylos” in the case of men):



My guess is that it’s a representation of Herakles (although not the only possibility), something akin to this:



I also guess from the shape of the robes that the standing figure on the reverse is likely the goddess Athena, helmeted, holding a spear, and with Nike (Victory) in her outstretched hand. I can see some letters running sideways at the right, which is usual on these coins but I can’t read them. Could be Latin or Greek. Both were in use in the Roman Empire, but this will likely be Greek.

Here are some generic examples of this “type” but there are hundreds of variants. These are all from Sardes, the capital of ancient Lydia in the Greek part of the Empire (now in modern Turkey) and that would be my guess (although by no means the only possibility):

 

[islamoradamark]

That's a heavy coin

 

[port ewen ace]

Red-Coat, your evaluation was as I expected------- EXCELLENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU, Rich

 

[port ewen ace]

That's a heavy coin

YUP!!! feels like lead for it's size. now to see what value it may have

 

[Red-Coat]

YUP!!! feels like lead for it's size. now to see what value it may have

You're welcome.

These coins were produced using what we loosely call “bronze” and by the third Century AD it was routinely an alloy of copper with a few per cent each of lead, zinc and tin. In earlier times the zinc level was higher… around 11% and with a tin content up to about 3%

I would think most dealers would be pricing a coin like that at around $15