Hello again, Any advice on identification would be much appreciated. Each of these are quite thick and have approx. diameters a little larger than that of US dimes. Thanks, R
That's a Roman Provincial coin. I don't know the emperor because I don't know how to identify them yet. Perhaps around Alexandria.
The first coin appears to be an Alexandria Potin Tetradrachm of Diocletian maybe? I can't read the image to be certain. The reverse would be year 2 (L-B). If Diocletian that would correspond to 286 AD and the reverse would then be Eirene standing left, wearing long chiton & peplos, holding olive-branch & transverse sceptre. I'm am far from certain on this one.
is the second one carinus maybe? i have a hard time with these legends. very nice lookin' alexandrian tets however. may want to look through the wildwinds pages on the type.. http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/greece/egypt/alexandria/t.html we have some experts here that can nail it for you.
They are provincial Roman coins from Alexandria, Egypt. The first coin is challenging because the legends aren't clear but I'll take a closer look. The second: EGYPT, Alexandria. Diocletian. 290/1 AD (year 7) potin tetradrachm Obv: ΔIOKΛHTIANOCCEB; laureate head right Rev: Zeus seated left on throne, holding patera and sceptre (eagle at feet; this is not mentioned in the brief description in Emmett's book but it is illustrated in the index); L Z in upper left field Ref: Emmett 4089 (7), R1 (rarity rating; common) Translation of obverse inscription: ΔIOKΛHTIANOC CEB(ACTOC) Diocletianus Augustus
Coin #1 is definitely a challenge. I can't even count the number of letters. Based on the portrait, it is a later emperor. Some emperors can be ruled out due to a the year (L B, year 2) and the general type of reverse. I'm not even sure who that is on the reverse-- Eirene, holding a sceptre and olive branch? Probably. Possibilities: Diocletian, Emmett 4045 (2), R1: Eirene holding a sceptre and olive branch; I think this is the most likely attribution. Aurelian, Emmett 3935 (2), R4: also Eirene. Could be this one but I really don't think so based on the obverse legend. Doug, vlaha? What do you think?
Thanks again TIF. You are the best. Do you have any guesses on this post of mine? http://www.cointalk.com/threads/ancient-pewter-roman-coin-trojan.245046/
Both are definitely Diocletian as proposed above. The year two coin has the longer legend with title and more full name before starting with the delta at 11 o'clock to spell out Diocletian. These are usually none too clear but I'll show one of each obverse lettering for comparison. There were many reverses used during this long reign. It was common for emperors to cut back on the length of names used after a few years of power. By then, everyone knew who they were. Diocletian had a long name so his first coins with long legends made for very small letters.
Aha. Then I was correct last night. I'm not very good at these, so when I get one correct I can crow.
WHAT IS UP WITH THAT SECOND COIN'S LEGEND!?!?!?!!? Thanks Doug, I didn't know that. I agree with all that they are Diocletian, it seems to match up.
man, these are legends are hard to read. seeing it printed out and comparing with the coin I can kind of make myself see it. kind of. i just guessed carinus with the short length. I've got a tet incoming, well see if i can ID it.
My Carinus (year three, Nike walking right) suffers from being short on flan near the important part of the legend (IN) which separates it from Carus but counting letters makes it certain even if there were less of the letter height showing. A K M A KAPINOC CEB = Autocrator Kaiser Marcus Aurelius Carinus Sebastos. It is also a good example of spelling out 'year' (ETOVC) rather than using L.
