Mystery Coin of the Day

Congrats @Magnus Maximus I believe you are the first person to post a nipple on Cointalk!

 

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Well Dr Rorschach, I see a small horse in the right field facing left. A shield bearer of some sort in the left field. Seleucid with horse and shield bearer??? don't know of any.

But if it is supposed to be something like this, then this is a Rorschach test on acid.

 

Surely Steve has done that at some point in the past

 

Samarkand Sogdian imitation of a Seleucid, (Antiochus), coin. They started out silver and degraded into copper. Its a horse's head you are seeing. Most Samarkand coins between 1st and 4th centuries were scyphate for some reason, but these latest versions were the most scyphate.

Actually a very scarce coin.

 

@4to2centBC getting closer!

 

Great Job Medoraman - I knew you would knock it out of the park!!! Congrats!!!!...and we have a NEW Champion!!!!

 

Well my guess was way off the mark....

 

Well to me that was a real softball. It was like throwing Bill a lead tesserae, or @THCoins a Kushano-Sassanid piece.

 

That's not a "nipple" it's a "snap."


Thanks for letting me guess and the hints.

 

Post Menopausal Destruction =P.M.D

 

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Bactrian coins from somewhere in central Europe.

 

Well, since you had to call me out. I didn't recognize it off the top of my head and, by the time I got the chance to look into it, medoraman figured it out. If I did have time, my first step would have been to look at Mitchiner, to rule out any southeast Asian source (which I was doubtful of anyway), then to dig into ancient central Asia. I eventually would have found it in Senior A9.5 - a highly degenerated imitation of the Seleukid horsehead issues, of which yours is a much more schematic example.

 

Aw, come on Bill. It took me 2 seconds to recognize it. Just admit I know Sogdians by memory better than you!

Btw, the obverse used to show a bust, (just like the Seleucid it was imitating). Just like the Eastern European celts, over time it became less and less clear until it finally just faded away into a lump of metal. If I had any time or camera skills, I could show a continuum of the issues, from high style imitations in good silver to recognizable coins in debased silver to the OP's coin. They made them over quite a while.

 

That is for sure a head scratcher. My first thought was Thai, from answers prior to that it is not. If Greek, it certainly is too round to be a telephone card.

 

Cool beans on the answer. Congrats.