Roman or Greek??

You have an advantage over the rest of us in that you can see the coin itself while we see photos but what I see is a messy, overstruck, low grade example that can not be IDed with 100% certainty but which seems, perhaps, to be a very common Justin II and Sophia. I do not have the exact year and officina but mine is from the same mint. The date on yours is clearly the special one digit 6 not used in all periods but certainly used by Justin.

When a coin can not be identified with certainty, the value is less than the low option. It is up to you to establish that it definitely is something 'different'. When this involves a coin overstruck on a different coin or doublestruck on its own type, we must establish what both strike were before the value increases. Collectors of series (like Byzantine) famous for being 'ugly' develop a special sense that helps them interpret squiggles with some ability beyond what the rest of us can see. Their 'theories' carry some greater weight than my amateur guesses.

 

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I'm reminded of overstrike I have. I know it's Constantine X, but can't I'd the overstruck coin. I've though about posting it, just haven't yet.

 

I started with sharpened oak dowels and bamboo skewers to scrape between the cuts or depressions in the coin (very hard stuff that turned to powder and then metal) and I was able to bring out some contours. I have also used a very sharp exacto knife and was able to get the top layer off. I have a dremel with a wire brush and was tempted. I have also thought about a SODIUM SESQUICARBONATE BATH but I am afraid to damage it with any of this stuff. But if I didn't do what I have done already to this coin you wouldn't be able to see anything. Any suggestions? Also the coin the way it looks now is solid. That green that you still see is very hard stuff on the surface.

 

Doug do you see the large faces in the coin, both facing right and one in each picture with the coin rotated?

 

I am posting 2 more pictures of the obverse to try and show the two faces. Here goes.

 

DOES ANYBODY SEE THE 2 FACES IN THIS COIN??

 

Not I.

 

Not looking at pics, not as easy as having in hand.
I asked what you are using to clean with because I have a small lot of uncleaned coming & have almost no idea what to use. Hoping not to introduce any BD into the house. But the idea of getting some uncleaned ancient sounds to fun to pass on.

 

That will keep you busy for sure. The main thing is to not do any damage to the coin. For the loose top dirt I would use a stiff bristle brush like a tooth brush (the stiffer the better, even shorten the bristles) DON'T use a brass bristle brush unless you know when to stop you can severely damage the coin. Use the worst coin first to practice on even something different like a beat up penny. Another thing that you can use is a straight pin ( BE CAREFUL). This is to get in all the cracks. And what will greatly assist you is a stereo microscope. You can have the coin all lit up with light and while you are looking through the mic. you can clean the dirt out of the cracks with ease. Another good thing for really hard dirt, soak in pure distilled water and change water every 2 days and give a quick brush off. Get yourself some bamboo skewers and keep them sharp.