Hi,
I got a few coins as a gift from a friend that returned from travel. Among them are these two below:
(Damn, they rotated 90º right when uploaded).
The right coin is surely Roman, the left one is probably Roman as well. Both have around 21 mm diameter.
The right coin have a well preserved bust on obverse, but most letters around it are gone with the cracks on rim, only remaining a "-NVS AV(G)" near face and a loose "C" or "G" behind hair. On reverse there's a bearded masculine figure, maybe Jupiter, no letters readable.
The left coin have a feminine bust on obverse, only a small part of the lettering is visible behind hair ("-EBIA" or something like that). On reverse, a feminine figure standing, nothing else visible.
I presume the right coin is easier, as it just requires recognizing the emperor's face (something I'm not good at), but the left coin is probably trickier.
Citação: "Alexius73"Pics please in better quality
It's all I could get with a cellphone camera (no sunlight at that moment, it was very cloudy). That's why I've written all that I could see on the coins. And with the condition of these coins, I'm not sure if I could make better photos.
The face at the right coin appears to be Aurelianus. If it's not him it's someone from the mid-late 3rd century because of the radiate crown (and the ending of the name seems to be "-IANVS").
The figure at reverse is similar to the ORIENS AVG and SOLI INVICTO reverse types, but the letter fragments aren't compatible and in almost all the wildwinds examples both body and head are facing left, in my coin the body is facing left but the head appears to be facing right.
And about the left coin, nothing. None of the empresses' names are compatible with the few letters visible on the obverse. And on the reverse only a feminine silhouette is visible and maybe an "O" near her feet.
Citação: "Camerinvs"Second coin: Search for RIC V 168v, Γ on this Wildwinds page. I'm not sure, but compare with yours and do let us know.
First coin: Knowing the weight would be useful. I suspect it's an ultra worn denarius from the mid-2nd century.
That's it!!! Thank you!!!
And it's already here on Numista (https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces305917.html), but I don't know why the Numista catalog says it's silver when Wildwinds says AE (copper/bronze).
About the first coin, I'll say weight unavailable since I don't have a balance here. But your estimated timeframe is already a big hint. Later I'll search for 2nd century empresses.
Citação: "Giobruno"That's it!!! Thank you!!!
And it's already here on Numista (https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces305917.html), but I don't know why the Numista catalog says it's silver when Wildwinds says AE (copper/bronze).
It's often described as a "silver wash". In theory, they were silver, but the silver came to be only traces, hence silver wash. That's how inflation worked back then...
They can also be described as "billon". Actually, this would be more accurate than either silver or copper.
Then, few minutes ago, I realized the the letters behind the woman's bust are actually INA, the N is hardly identifiable except under some lightning angles.
And with that, only two names are possible within Camerinvs' estimated timeframe: Faustina and Crispina. Probably it's Faustina II/the Younger, I'm currently looking on her coin types on Wildwinds.
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Edit: Gotcha!!!
It's a Roman Provincial coin! I managed to find more letters on obverse when trying more angles. Now they're TEINA, which is part of her name in greek (ΦAYCTEINA).
On the reverse there's only one letter visible, an O at around 7 hours. None of her coins in Rome had that letter in that position, and that was bugging me. But some greek coins had that letter, the ones with the reverse OYΛΠIAC ΠAYTAΛIAC.
Only a few coins have that reverse, all from Pautalia, ancient Thrace. The closest ones to mine features Demeter or Hera holding a long torch or scepter.
Since mine is very worn, it will be tricky to find out which one. (Will try it later)
Whay do you people think, before adding it oficially?
(probably I'll have to first add the coin to the catalog)
Note that there are two Faustinas, mother and daughter, and this one seems to be the daughter based on the chignon.
The reverse has a letter at the bottom, just left of the figure. At first sight, a "D", but the legend is likely to start there and go up. So, more probably a "G" or a "C", or else perhaps an "O".
Citação: "Camerinvs"Note that there are two Faustinas, mother and daughter, and this one seems to be the daughter based on the chignon.
The reverse has a letter at the bottom, just left of the figure. At first sight, a "D", but the legend is likely to start there and go up. So, more probably a "G" or a "C", or else perhaps an "O".
I was thinking about that earlier, before going definitely to the daughter.
The letter at reverse is definitely an O. I was updating my finding when you wrote this.
Ah, ok. So it is not silver, but copper based, perhaps brass.
Because of the size and portrait, I assumed it was silver with a kind of charcoal/dark grey patina, as often, but I had not taken into account that it could be a provincial issue.
It does look like provincial work, which is often inferior to that of the mints of Rome and Lugdunum.
Citação: "Camerinvs"I had not taken into account that it could be a provincial issue.
Neither I had.
I was almost giving up as none of her coins from Rome was matching. But her page at Wildwinds have a lot of provincial issues, I went "why not?" and decided to look at it. After seeing that her name is written as "Fausteina" in greek, I tried to look more in the letters at obverse and bingo, the letter before INA is an E and not a T (had to try various lightning angles).
And in that moment I felt that I was finally solving the mystery. And it didn't take much time to find a corresponding reverse lettering, all I need now is to determine which goddess is portrayed before adding it here (the Hera and Demeter types are very similar given the state of my coin).
Edit: Perhaps it's Demeter, due to the angle between the right arm and forearm (in most coins Demeter's arm the angle is more closed than in Hera's arm).
Citação: "Camerinvs"Any chances there are traces of letters on the reverse other than the "O"?
Now that you talked about, I picked the coin again and I think that I found a barely visible lower half of "IA" at ~5 hours position (which is compatible to my ID). And I think that there's one unreadable letter after the "O".
That is already a big thing given the state of my coin (and I think that the reverse is in a worse state than the obverse).
I told my friend of the IDs and he was happy that I managed to identify them (he bought them for me in his vacation travel to Dublin along with some pre-euro irish coins).
