The obverse of this bronze coin has 3 faces, including a counter-marked one. Reverse shows a bull butting left. It weighs 8.86 g. Please post a comment , if you have. Thanks.
It's Phoenician. From your fuzz-o-gram scans I can't make out details to know if it is also of Trajan. The type was issued for several emperors. Where'd that camera go, Charles? PHOENICIA, Arados. Trajan CY 375 (CE 116/7) Æ 22, 9.65 gm Obv: draped bust of Astarte-Europa right; before, small laureate and draped bust of Trajan Rev: bull charging left Reference: SNG Copenhagen 81; BMC 374
There was a time not long ago that you could make decent coin images with a scanner. Then technology went for a new breed of ultra thin profile scanners that produced terrible results on anything at all 3D including coins. I still have one of the old ones hooked up to an old Vista computer but its software is not compatible with Windows 10. I have not used it for coins since I got a good digital camera and the good things I said about scanners on my webpage in the early days no longer apply. Scanner image from 1997: I am not aware of a scanner sold today that will do as well but I have not researched the matter at all. The good ones were all thick (at least 2 inches) and not part of a printer/fax package. Still??? http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/scan.html My early photo with a camera needs to be reshot but many of my old photos are waiting for me to do something. If I stopped buying new coins and put some effort her, I would be better off.
Thanks a lot to all of you. Of course I'll have a close shot tomorrow. Actually, after your first comments I went searching and found it's Trajan. The main intriguing and interesting point now is the counter mark. I have another "Phoenician" coin under Elagabalus with a counter mark on obverse. Reverse shows Astarte with a trophy and being crowned by Nike or Victory standing on a pillar. I mean after all that the counter mark happened to be of Melkart. The counter mark was listed under Howgego 15, if I remember well. Hope we have the same deity here.
