Found this entry in A Catalogue of the Greek Coins in the British Museum: Galatia, Cappadocia and Syria:
Hmm. That flan is very... weird. The dotted border is blurred together into a nearly solid line. Very odd and suspicious . Edited to add that there are many "oversized" flans for Philip I in ACsearch. I really don't know what to think about this coin. The edges are worrisome.
And here are 3 other tets (3/4 of the worrisome 4-some photo posted last night) that have similar "off"-ness about them (their softness, their color and fabric, and their honed sides):
Any with machined edges? I'll take a peek too.. Edit: here are some that are larger flan with more-liney-less-dottie worn borders (at least in parts) and similar metal:
Are 1, 3 and 7 also Alexandrian? The fabric does not look right. The best outcome for the tets would be that they are ex-jewelry; worst is modern.
Thank you both! I'm calling shenanigans on these 5 machine-edged, funky-lookin' tets and reached out to the seller about them this morning and waiting to hear back.
Yes, Alexandrian... #3 was part of the 3-pack photo of condemned coins above (the left one). Here's #1, 35mm, 23.2g: Antoninus Pius, AE Drachm O: Laurate and bearded bust right of Antoninus Pius. R: EYΘHNIA, Euthenia reclining left on sphinx, holding grain ears, outstretched fold of garment containing fruit and lotus, LΓ in exergue, RY 3. Here's #7, 28mm x 29mm, 12.5g: Hadrian, AE Hemidrachm O: Laurate, draped, and cuirassed bust right of Hadrian. R: Euthenia reclining left on sphinx, holding grain ears, L ΔWΔE K in exergue, RY 12.
I went ahead and explored and ID'd coin #22 (cuz it has such a pretty patina!): Syria, Seleucis and Pieria. Laodicea ad Mare Trajan, AE25, Struck 116/117 AD Obverse: ΑΥΤΟΚΡ ΝΕΡ ΤΡΑΙΑΝΟС ΑΡΙСΤ ΚΑΙС СΕΒ ΓΕΡ ΔΑΚ ΠΑΡ, laureate head of Trajan, r., with drapery on l. shoulder. Reverse: ΙΟΥΛΙΕωΝ ΤωΝ ΚΑΙ ΛΑΟΔΙΚΕωΝ ΓΞΡ, turreted and veiled bust of Tyche, r., date M/KO year 163. References: RPC III 3797-8 Size: 25mm, 9.8g
I'd like to know more about #15... Is it Alexandrian with a canopus on reverse? Or is that a tureted head right? Is that an L/Є in the right field? #15, 18.5mm, 6.7g:
Sorry about the tetradrachms... mine has a similar weird edge to yours above. If not modern they are at least suspect. A fake report was never made for mine because there was never a definitive conclusion but when you look at all of the examples... something's up. Not a total loss though... that Trajan Laodicea ad Mare coin and several others (including the Pius drachm) look great!
Maybe it's a cult statue of Artemis; all the little dots are her breasts. If that is the case it is more squat than usual. I haven't found it with a quick ACsearch but it looks vaguely familiar so there is hope . It's not from Roman Egypt.
Actually, its from Zeugma and the reverse shows a temple on mount with trees. Can be hard to nail it down specifically due to the wear, but I think its a very rare example of the link below (with just one specimen cited in BMC). Yours could be the second known: http://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/4/5756/
Mine is only AE18 and has a reverse die clash that obscures the area of the E on your coin. I never considered it having a gamma there but there is a trace of something left of the temple. These coins illustrate a situation we often see with Provincial coins. Not all are common and not all come in fully detailed examples. ID is not always as easy as we might wish. My hat is off to Ken for recognizing the type. I missed it and I own the above similar but different coin. There are many variations in different sizes shown on acsearch. https://www.acsearch.info/search.ht...s=1&thesaurus=1&order=0¤cy=usd&company=
Thank you! The dots had reminded me of the grove but it seemed very round versus the more straight ones I've seen in my minimal experience. Yea, I was just looking on acsearch and came across this small, round reverse from Zeugma: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=4034993 Doug, your acsearch link above is much better
Here is #2, 21.5mm x 22.5mm, 7.3g And #24, 23mm x 24mm,11.4g Both very similar with an Aurelius-esque bust on obverse and tureted Serapis-like head on reverse. I also see some Latin reverse legend on #24: AVG CAES(AR?)...
And #9, 28.5mm, 16.1g: Could this be a laureate bust of Hadrian? There's a Λ before the bust and on reverse a female seated left, with trophy over shoulder, resting on mound of rocks?