2 heads are better than 1...if you know who's heads they are? ID Help please

I picked up this lil doozy a while ago but he (or should I say "they") got lost in the mail!
It has 2 portraits. When I first saw it for sale I thought "oh, that's Augustus and Rhoemetacles."
But now that I have it in hand I'm not so sure and would appreciate some help.
The listening merely said:
Ancient Roman Colonial Greek Imperial Bronze Nummis AE17

Any ideas who's heads these are?
Thanks in advance to my coinin pals!

 

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Good luck with that. I'm of no help, I'm afraid.

 

Hmm, this is going to be one which can only be narrowed down, not positively identified. There seems to be a hint of dotted border so that tidbit of info might help. The busts appear male and their heads appear bare although the wear could have removed traces of headgear. It's hard to say if there was any or much legend on either coin but I'm better there weren't extensive legends on either side.

The general appearance of the busts on these coins (without headgear-- I think) makes me suspect an early provincial pairing of emperors or emperor and family/VIP/etc, rather than deity/deity or emperor/deity. Augustus or another Julio-Claudian is likely. ISEGRIM seems to bear this out.

Looks like a good coin for practicing with @Ed Snible's ISEGRIM interface. I still don't understand what terms the headings are looking for, but with some trial and error I plugged in AE for metal (that was easy), obverse type PORTRAIT MAN R, reverse type PORTRAIT MAN R, and set a size range to weed out coins that are clearly too large or too small (minimum size 16 mm, maximum size 19 mm).

That gave 27 possibilities, some of which were not matches based on the written description and some of which were repeats. For the rest I used the information to search in archives. Here are the finalists with representative examples when available, in the order of the ISEGRIM hits. Coincidentally, I think the first one looks most likely (if any of them are a match, that is ).

...


MYSIA. Kyzikos. Augustus (or Gaius Caesar?) / ? (Lucius Caesar). There are three of these in ACsearch, sizes 13mm-15mm; ISEGRIM finds 8, all said to be 16mm
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=2579469
I think the obverse and reverse are switched in this image.


Another example of this Kyzikos coin, from CNG. I'm liking this as a real contender.

MYSIA, Cyzicus. Augustus. 27 BC-AD 14. Æ 16mm (1.82 g, 12h). Bare male head right / Bare male head right. RPC I 2246; SNG Ashmolean 1188; SNG Copenhagen -. VF, green patina


MYSIA. Pergamum. Britannicus and Nero
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=4739595
I don't think this is it. The border is a line rather than dotted.



MYSIA. Germe. Titus and Domitian
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=2711934
Probably not this type since they're wearing laurel wreaths and there is a lot of legend.



LYDIA, Sardes. Germanicus / Drusus
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=2114092
Probably not this one either for the same reasons as the Germe coin.



MYSIA, Pergamum. Germanicus and Drusus.
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=2831962
Probably not this one either; too much legend; solid border rather than dotted.



AEOLIS. Aegae. Gaius and Lucius
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=2008382
Nah, probably not



IONIA, Magnesia. 17BC -4 AD. AE. Obverse: SEBASTOS; PORTRAIT MAN R / AUGUSTUS . Reverse: GAIOS MAGNHTWN; PORTRAIT MAN R / GAIUS CAESAR
(I didn't find any examples in archives, but other coins of Augustus from this area didn't look right style-wise)


PHRYGIA. Midaeum. Augustus and (?) Gaius Caesar
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=3182130
Probably not.



LYDIA, Tralles. Augustus, with Caius Caesar
https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=196799
Meh, probably not.



MYSIA, Pergamum. Gaius and Lucius.
https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=304919
Probably not.



ISEGRIM didn't hit any Bosporan Kingdom coins. Not sure why. As you've noted, there is an Augustus/Rhoemetalkes bronze with bust right/bust right. I don't think it matches your coin.
https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=112850

 

Thank you so much @TIF !! I'll have to break out my magnifying glass and look for any lettering that may be hiding. How fun! I hadn't seen. @Ed Snible 's interface before. Very cool. Thanks again. I'll post if I find anything that would further narrow this mystery down...I just ID'd another new coin of mine (much prettier coin though) that I'm just about to do a post on.

 

In hand, what do you think about the border? Can you tell if it is dotted or solid? I thought dotted, but the right-hand image (who knows if it is the reverse or the obverse ) the border looks rather unbroken.

 

Yep. When I first got it I was sure it had little dotted borders. But now under the microscope I'm making out letters and am not sure the "border" isn't just letters. Dast! And of course I have to get ready for work as the plot thickens. Grumble grumble. I'll keep you posted.

 

Scratch that. There IS a border around the lettering.

 

Though I'm thinking it is solid and just looks dotted due to the craters on the battered boy.

 

If that's the case, do you think it resembles one of the Pergamum coins shown above? Are you seeing traces of a lot of letters/legend?

 

I'm really leaning towards:
MYSIA, Pergamum. Germanicus and Drusus.
Germanicus's flat head. The shapes of both heads and necks are a perfect match for that matter. The areas of the lettering I can see match (wish it weren't in Greek). That orMYSIA, Pergamum. Gaius and LLucius:
But I'll look further once I've brought home some bacon.

 

Alright, I've ruled out Nero and Britannicus. The heads nor the necks match up. And the area with lettering on Gaius and Lucius that I can make out on my coin don't match. Leaving only Germanicus and Drusus! If you look close at mine you can see the lettering creeping up the back of young Germanicus head. And the letters coming down in front of Drusus. Both just like ac search's!
Here is theirs...

And here is mine...

I'm pretty darn certain this mystery is solved. Thanks a ton @TIF . you'll especially get a kick out of this, I just realized this coin came in the same batch as the last coin I asked my CT friends to help me ID. And it's also, you guessed it, Germanicus and Drusus!!!


That can't be a coincidence. I'll bet wherever the seller got these from they had been put together and we just unraveled that pairing from across who knows how much time?!
I'll have to keep these 2 together. Just like Germanicus and Drusus, together through the ages