It's from Roman Egypt. What's the size and weight? It's probably a tetradrachm made of billion, a debased silver. The emperor is Hadrian. The reverse shows the serpent Agathodaemon standing erect right. The year is L-B, regnal year 2, 117-118. Reference: Emmett 803, year 2, rarity 1. If it is smaller it could be a diobol with the same reverse. That's a much rarer coin (at least per the book), Emmett 1111 year 2, rarity 5
It looks like an issue of Hadrian from Alexandria, but that nose on the portrait is disturbingly large. Others members of the board have better knowledge and will probably chime in with their thoughts, but the size and weight of the coin would help.
@TIF and @zumbly here are the weight and dimensions: 12.1g diameter: 23mm thickness: 4mm Is this another coin of that type (better picture, someone else's coin): Emmett 803.5 Could it be this one? Emmett 804.10 The obverse of my coin looks like the first link, but the reverse doesn't seem to match, looking more like the 2nd?
Yours is definitely Emmett 803 (Agathodaemon alone on the reverse). 804 has Agathodaemon and a Uraeus. The styles vary quite a bit even with the same type so the different appearance of yours vs the Forvm example is not concerning.
Hard to say. You'll need to search Vcoins, eBay, CoinArchives, CNG's archives, etc to get an idea. The type comes up somewhat frequently but usually in at least slightly better condition. It's still a very cool coin though!
more appropriately the question was answered centuries ago.... "Everything is worth what its purchaser will pay for it." - Publius Syrius
Looks like an authentic Tet to me too....and at auctions (Forum etc) it seems to draw about $30-$75 in bids....of course if it is a scarce variety even more...but I concede such distinctions to TIF and the other more knowledgeable members here... I think it's a cool coin!!
Hi Matty. Have you been collecting modern coins? If so, the concepts and standards for ancient coins are much different. Cleaning is okay. Circulated is okay. Virtually all ancient coins are cleaned. They have to be-- they have been buried in dirt, collecting dust, or otherwise subjected to the elements for centuries or millennia.
Me too. The thing about ancient numismatics is....believe it or not there are things you simply cannot Google, but they do a fine job of it. I would Google "Doug Smith Ancient Coins" read eat, eat it, digest it, rinse and repeat.