It is NOT an ancient Roman coin. What it is, I cannot say with certainty. But it is definitely not an ancient gold coin of Claudius II.
Bing et al. One last chance with this coin before I consider giving up. For a second, lets assume this is a solid gold piece. Is it possible that this coin is a severely filed down actual gold Philip I or Gallienus Antoninianus? There are some that look similar here. http://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=5
Ho hum....okay......thanks guys. I guess I'll throw in the towel on this one, and hope to get a little more than spot.
Hey, we all had to learn... But please accept the guidelines and help you get from 'experienced' people, ok ? We wont bite (unless...)...
You're mixing up terms a little bit. The antoninianus was originally a silver issue meant to replace the denarius. The coins gradually became debased until they contained almost no silver, but they were sometimes given a silver wash. The denomination "antoninianus" never refers to a gold coin. Those are aureii and solidi. The radiate portrait on your round is a generic portrait, used by a number of rulers in the late Roman period. This type of portrait was generally used to denote a higher denomination on bronze and/or billon issues, that is, distinguishing a coin of the same metal type as being of greater monetary value than a coin exhibiting a portrait with a bare head or laurel leaves, etc. I have never seen a Roman gold coin with a radiate bust, which is why I have to side with Rudi and Bing. The piece is very likely nothing more than a gold-plated bronze cull, or a solid gold round cast in the form of a antoninianus, and a well-worn one at that.
What you may have is something like this... https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/an...lated_silver_antoninianus/432420/Default.aspx
No John, that is an ancient plated one... The one shown is this thread is a modern plated coin. Some dodo's enjoy themselves plating near to worthless coins and sell them on eBay... I think they call it clads or something... $ 1 or 2 a piece...
I think the OP's "coin" is indeed modern. I'm more inclined to believe someone in the ancient world would have chosen a bronze in better condition to plate and pass off as a aureus. But the truth of the matter is, there's absolutely no way to tell the difference between an old plating and a new. The counterfeiters didn't exactly stamp dates on their work.
Ummmm, hey don't look at me ...... ummm, even though I work at a mine that has a refinery, where I can electroplate different metals onto just about anything ... that would be wrong (right?)
But if I was in the business of cheating people, that's exactly what I would do. I'd get myself a nice-looking antoninianus and do a crappy job plating it so that it looked like an ancient counterfeit. I see these gold-plated bronzes from time to time, but I'm dubious. They don't have anywhere near the provenance of silver-washed bronze. I'm not saying they're NOT ancient. What I'm saying is there is no way to authenticate the date of plating, that I know of...