Recieved this coin today and I've been searching online but can't come up with an answer. It's 15mm AE, I think it looks like Augustus but could be wrong. Obverse legend has ΘEOY on right and I think YIOY or ΣIOY on left, bare head bust right. Reverse appears to me to be a crane/ibis (long neck bird) with maybe a K and Y as part of the viewable legend, obscured by encrustation.
It reminds me of this Amphipolis Artemis riding a bull series, like this one (25mm), only smaller: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=1296901 But with a long-necked bird instead of bull...
And the first coin on the WW Alexandria page shows a semi-autonomous coin with an ibis, and two coins lower is a (big) coin with ΘEOY YIOY legend. http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/greece/egypt/alexandria/t.html Just pulling out pieces of a puzzle and seeing if they fit mine in some way
I really don't know what the reverse is and it's driving me a bit crazy . I see a small bunch of grapes at the end of a thick stem, although I doubt that's it. Perhaps the "stick" is the handle of a rudder or some similar implement? Everything about it looks somewhat familiar, although I guess most ancient coins do after you look at tens of thousands of them. "ΘEOY YIOY" means God of Gods or something like that. ΘEOY can mean "ruler" too, or something similar. I've seen ΘEOY on Tiberius legends too. I tried @Ed Snible's ISEGRIM interface using minimal input (type of metal, "head man r" for obverse, and *OEY for obverse inscription) but came up with nothing . Too bad we can't discern more of the reverse legend since that probably names the place (and possibly regnal year). Looks like ___ΓΥ or __ΠΥ?
I think I found it... - versus mine - Kyzikos, Mysia. Uncertain emperor (Caligula, Augustus or Claudius), 1st century AD. AE15. Obverse: NEOY ΘEOY, bare head right. Reverse: KYZI (KY above, ZI below), Capricorn leaping right, head reverted. References: RPC I 2247; SNG France 626. I still can't find another coin like this other than the one above (from WW) this (specifically in better reverse condition) to be able to really make out the capricorn on mine (could that "long neck" instead be the front leg?), but the obverse fits well and so does the reverse legend. Here is another small AE Augustus coin from the area for further study (not my reverse type though, but similar obv bust). Obverse: Bare head of Augustus facing right Reverse: K Y Z I surrounding torch within wreath Reference: RPC I 2244
Nice sleuthin'! Next up: check asiaminorcoins to see if they have any from Kyzikos that match your reverse (I don't think it's a capricorn). If you have no luck there or in the other usual databases (acsearch), see if the you can find any public domain references which are strong on Kyzikos and dig deeply for a match there. Tedious, but it may pay off
I was thinking it "could" be a capricorn... And could the KYZI be on the 4 corners like the torch one above?
Similarities between the two: - it has a similar tail style (blue); - mine shows the horns moving to the right (what I thought was a K) with the reverted head (orange). The WW example is off flan, but it'd be like this: - the front leg(s) seem similar style (green). - and are those scales on the mer-half (purple)?
