This Roman coin of Emperor Gordian has an interesting reverse and weighs 4.43 g. I am not sure if it is Gordian I, II , or 3. Could you please assist me to fully identify it?
Gordian III, Elaeussa-Sebaste (Island off Cilicia). Reverse is Poseidon standing, foot on galley prow, resting on trident with something in his right hand. Lindgren thinks it's Nike, but Poseidon is frequently depicted as holding a dolphin on many other coins. Looks like a chicken to me.
Btw, Gordian I and II only issued coins in North Africa, and they are horrifically rare. So unless you have an exact match for one of these extreme rarities, its always good to assume its Gordian III, who probably issued 99.98% of all coins with the name Gordian.
Great. Before the knee of Poseidon,there seems to be the letter O . Then under the O there is maybe the letter L. Is this possible ?. What is their meaning ? If not, could they be parts of the animal which looked like a rabbit or a peacock to me . Charles
It is not from Elaeussa-Sebaste. The legends on the coins of Elaeussa-Sebaste were in Greek. This coin clearly has IMP GORDIAN.. in Latin on the obverse. The OL could be part of the name COL (for Colony) - there is also a B in the right field. I thought it may be Olbasa, Pisidia but Gordian III apparently did not strike coins there.
Well, I can't help with much except that the following is an example from Elaeussa-Sebaste with the Greek lettering (acsearch):
This coin is now subject to deep analysis and research by "Dane" at Wildwinds who has contacted me for this purpose. They want hopefully to detect the Mint or name of the city in which it was struck. I managed to scan the coin again but at a resolution of 600 dots per square inch. Hope that would help. BTW.. could the letter B on the left field of reverse refer to Berytus ?
Berytus Laureate draped cuirassed bust right CO/L - BE / R; Poseidon standing left, holding dolphin and trident, right foot on galley A similar example but misdescribed as holding eagle can be seen on VCoins.
Hard to say with the poorly preserved legends. A close match (but not exact due to the reverse letters) would be RPC274, minted at Kyme.
Here are coins that I found that appear to be from the same dies. This seems to be a regularly used reverse type at Berytus.
I should have looked here earlier I suppose. It is indeed Phoenicia, Berytus, SNGCop126. See? Those Thousand dollar books come in handy on occasion!
Of course, I'm no expert especially in catalogs or listings. I wonder if this coin is listed on RIC or Wildwinds or other sources than SNGCop.
IMP GORDIANVS AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right. CO-L in two lines to left, BE-R in two lines to right, Poseidon standing left, holding dolphin and trident. Rouvier 594 (Plate ID, 13); Babelon Perses Achém. 1313; Mionnet V 91. I guessed it was Berytus from the OL-B but I was busy all day yesterday and didn't have time to check Rouvier which is THE number one reference work for coins from Phoenicia. I don't think there is one of these on wildwinds yet but if not, I will use the images of a very nice one currently for sale on fleabay, as it is very clear with almost full legends.
