So I have been trying to figure out what in the name of the Lord this is for about an hour now. It is in pretty good shape actually, but I am really just having a hard time taking the letters I can see and making them make sense into a town or ruler name that I can then look up. Mind you, a full 75% of my experience in ID'ing Greek coins has come in the last week with this actual group of coins. So bear with me. I could really use some sort of primer as to how to go about taking an unknown coin and then narrowing it down. Usually legends give me a pretty good direction but not in this case at all. First of all the obverse. It appears that the lettering in the legends on both sides is read from the outside rim of the coin. I can make out maybe the top of T, A or Delta, I, Sigma, Lambda or Delta, Y. The portrait holds no significance to me so I can't even just take a stab at anything other than Zeus maybe which doesn't narrow the field much. The reverse has the standing figure and from his left foot I see, KO(Gamma)(P? misshapen B?)O(Y?)LambdaAN. On the statue's right side you can see DIO. I tried to throw a couple of different letter combinations into Google translate even to see if I was mistyping a town name. I did find out there is a town by the name of Karaoglan in the country of Turkey which gave me hope for a second. So basically any help here would be profound. Also, its obvious I muddle my way through transliteration. Any tips? This is a very frustrating direction my collecting has taken me. Thanks all. Especially for reading this now long post.
It looks Roman Provincial. The reverse might spell the city name but could instead/also spell a magistrate's name. The obverse portrait might be an emperor (often the busts are generic or odd) but it could instead by Senate or some personification. I'm about to go to sleep but would love to work on this puzzle in the morning if no one has identified it yet. Can you provide larger images? Also, you'll get more lookers if you show the full images in the thread rather than thumbnails.
Yes, I thought it could be a Magistrate name, but since I did not have much else to go on I knocked my head around trying to see if I could come up with something. I do believe it may be from Roman rule as well because it is similar in feel to other coins from around the Severan era. But that is just hunch. Also, added images to thread.
Here's a list that might help a bit-- it's worth bookmarking at least. Roman Provincial mint cities, a list compiled by Henrik Agndal, from tjbuggey's website: http://tjbuggey.ancients.info/orter.htm
Bookmarked. I can't look through any more cities though tonight. I need at least a pointer in the right direction. It's been frustrating to say the least.
You asked for ID tips. The first thing I do (which wasn't helpful with this coin) is check CNG's archives, using a few search terms based on things I can discern from the coin. Common terms aren't of much help due to the overwhelming number of hits. I wasn't able to come up with adequate search terms for your coin. More than 3 terms sometimes seems to cause problems, so I used combinations of AE, bust right, standing left, holding (because the reverse figure is holding something in his right hand), Phrygian (because the reverse figure looks like he is wearing a Phrygian cap). Since that didn't work out, I tried harder to read the reverse legend. Larger images in better focus might help. In Photoshop I adjusted some things to improve the visibility of the letters. The legend is counterclockwise, which unfortunately isn't a search term of help. Starting at the bottom right, I see K o T or I or Γ I or ? O V Λ Α or Λ Ν ---break--- Δ I o ... Can you make out the rest of the letters? I can't see them in your images. You could try doing a pencil rubbing with tracing paper. Sometimes that will clarify letters which are obscured by light deposits or patchy patina. I thought it might be from Cotiaeum (Phrygia) but the legend fell apart after the first few letters (KOTIAEΩN). Now I have to do that pesky "go to work" thing again and can't continue to play with this right now I don't know of any good partial inscription search functions for any site. ISEGRIM works well for some people but using it is beyond me. You might want to give it a try though. Here's the site: http://isegrim.dasr.de/isegrim/menue.php3?tan=888048gRNQCO6l1po and here's a Forvm discussion on how to use it: http://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=44094.0 One last thing: I think the portrait is an emperor and, even though it most definitely does not resemble his Imperial portrait, I recall seeing some Provincial Nero portraits that looked like this. If the obverse is an emperor, I think it is a first century emperor (one of the twelve). If the portrait is not an emperor, perhaps it is Demos or Senate? It looks laureate though so it's probably an emperor.
On the right side of the reverse inscription, I don't think that's a K. I think that's the shaft of the spear/scepter the deity is holding. I think that inscription begins with an O. The identity of the second and third letters is unclear, as TIF notes above, but might be the combination ΓΧ (transliterated NCH, as in aNCHialus). The second letter could be an I or T, I suppose. The third is really unclear (X, B, ?). The incription clearly reads ΟVΛ after that. There is an unclear letter following, but a clear N after that. Assuming the inscription to be in the genitive plural--as most cities are--then it probably ends in ΩΝ. The first three letters after the break read ΔΙΟ. So, something like ΟΓΧΟVΛΩΝ - ΔΙΟ[...]. Arranging it vertically, as TIF did, I offer: K (or not part of the inscription at all, but the shaft of the spear) O Γ (or T or I) X (B, ?) O V Λ Ω (or A, ?) N Δ I O
I've looked up Diocaesarea (there are several cities with this name), Diocleia, Dionysopolis, Dioshieron, and Diospolis, but the inscriptions on those coins don't even come close to including the ending of this one (ΟVΛΩΝ). What also makes it hard is that the inscription might contain abbreviations or be the name of a magistrate, increasing the number of possibilities.
I thought so too at first (base of a transverse scepter/torch/other), but enlarging it in Photoshop made me think it is a K. Nicholas, could you take more pictures-- various lighting angles, better focus, and higher resolution?
I think I've found it, or at least the city! PHRYGIA, Docimeum (other spellings, such as Dokimion) Nero Obv: [legend];bust right Rev: DIOCIEΡITωN - KOΡBOVΛωN Zeus standing in the Himation nl, bowl in the right; In the field l. Monogram Ref: RPC I, 2560. SNG Munich 107 ... or something similar, but from Docimeum. The above attribution and coin is from ACsearch: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=328924
No doubt about it; that's the city and the reverse inscription. Strong detective work, @TIF !! I thought that weird-looking letter might be a B. I have seen rho (P) written with a very small loop, but that's so small, it looked more like a line, didn't it? That made it look like a Γ. But no doubt that inscription reads KOΡBOVΛωN.
Wow, it's like Christmas, go to bed and wake up to presents! I am glad that I am not the only one who was stumped by this. I honestly don't know if different pictures or lighting would have helped even though I was fully willing to try taking different pictures. Roman collector: I looked up all of the same cities for about two hours and then looked at all of the AE coins from each to make sure I wasn't just being subconsciously lazy before I put the coin up for help. My wife saw my frustration and did a look at the coin herself and also tried a pencil rubbing to see if she could make letters pop out a bit with no luck. Even she said "These guys sometimes used capitals and sometimes used lower case? Why?!!" I told her I didn't know. Lol. We had the same maddening discussion about "is that a P! No it's a B! No its gamma!" Bananas. Thanks for all of your help everybody. Stupid Greek pick bins!
So I am seeing the coin as Dioshieron, Lydia in the link to the auction. Is the other name a magistrate I am guessing? There is no reference to the name except as part of the legend in the WW entry.
I don't know where my brain was this morning but I'll try to blame haste as I rushed off to work . The city for the coin I posted is indeed Dioshieron in Lydia, not Docimeum in Phrygia. I had used a certain search term in ACsearch and had four hits, and this one was among the four. The other three were were Docimeum and somehow I wrote the wrong city.
So another friend gave me some more references for this coin, all in the vein of what TIF was driving at. RPC I 2560 SNG Munich 107 Imhoff LS 4 SNG Cop 114 - 115 Vienne 28521 Mionnet IV, 186 BMC 8 SNG Turkey 7, 226 - 233 Leopold I, 952. Just to put a fork in it for sure. Thanks again everyone!
