Neighbor's Garden

Hi. My neighbor assumed that he found this ancient coin in his garden. It weighs 9.83 g. It looks bronze and Roman to me. What do you say guys? Thanks..
Charles

 

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Reverse looks Byzantine. Need photo of the other side.

 

looks like an anonymous bronze from 10-11th century. Should be a little larger than a quarter, and thicker.

 

Thanks. Here is a scan of the obverse which looks of very poor condition.

 

Yep, early anonymous follis. The obverse is of Jesus, the reverse states "Jesus Christ King of Kings". They were called anonymous since no mention of the Byzantine ruler is on them. One interesting point, the picture of Christ was from the emperor's favorite portrait of him from a famous church. Most of these portraits have been destroyed over time, making these coins the only physical proof left of what they looked like.

 

JESUS! I should need an expert to clean the obverse. What do you say ?
Charles

 

This coin will not improve with cleaning and it is possible that you could lose the outline of the head on the obverse. I'd keep it as it is as a souvenir of the find.

 

Thank you very much for this wise and friendly advice. Anyway, just out of curiosity how much do you think it is worth at this condition?
Charles