A coin club friend assumes I know more about ancients than I really do. Can anyone identify this coin? It weighs 9.15 grams and is 27 mm in diameter. The pics are not my best, but I think the features show.
Hmm, that's a toughie. My first thought is that it may not be ancient-- maybe it is a fantasy piece. Something about the style looks off. I searched CNG's archives, acsearch, and Wildwinds (although the latter not thoroughly) for "AE, jugate busts left" and didn't find anything close. Jugate busts are relatively uncommon; left-facing busts even more so. The veiled bust could be Hera. When appearing jugate, she is usually paired with Zeus but the second figure is not bearded and just doesn't look like Zeus. Maybe the veiled figure is a queen? The busts somewhat resemble Seleukid jugate busts although I haven't found any facing left and the Seleukid reverses are typically littered with legends. Your coin appears to be anepigraphic. At first I thought your coin's reverse was a "foundation scene" with founder plowing left, but upon closer inspection it looks like a biga.
My first thought was: "easy, nabatean...." but that reverse I have never seen on them before. So I would be inclined to think of a modern fantasy. It looks like there is a cast seem on the edge of the exergue. :/
This is surprising no one here has been able to identify this item yet. I expected some one could have figured it out by now.
The only coin this resembles (that I know of) is a certain bronze of the Gaulish Remi tribe. But that type has triple jugate busts with biga left, and the style is completely different. I say modern fantasy piece.
My first thought was modern cast fake, but my friend said, "No it is a real coin". My second thought was Celtic intimating something or an Eastern Greek coin (Scythian, Bactria, ...). The features are rounded and look cast. The desert patina sctatches off with my thumbnail. There are marks that could be grinding on the edge (should have seen those first). The obverse has two diadem heads, left. The reverse has a biga driven by a person with a couple of dots and a line where Victory or Cupid would be. In Ex is a squiggly line. I see no writing. The reverse horse is a bit like the Scythian coin below. http://www.anythinganywhere.com/commerce/coins/coinpics/indi-scyth.htm
