Posting this for a friend from a different forum. You folks here are the "gurus" of ancients as far as I'm concerned, so I thought I'd see what you thought. Any help is appreciated! The diameter is approximately 15mm. Weight I don't know... The flip it was in said "Roman Bronze Coin, circa 100 - 400 AD"
Almost impossible to be sure of anything except that it definitely falls within the time-frame stated....a 'legend' or other identifying inscriptions are usually what nails a coin down---or at least narrows down the possibilities. Late Roman Bronzes (LRB) of AE-2's are about 19 cm, so it's likely to be from that period...perhaps Valentinian I with a Victory reverse???
Thanks much. I thought maybe someone would recognize that "hook-nosed" (ugly) mug on the obverse. Seems pretty unique -- but I completely understand that many of these busts look basically the same.
The bust style and size make it late Roman. Looks like a Victory reverse to me as well. Could be any of a handful of emperors: Valentinian, Valens, Gratian, just to name a few. The busts were too generic at this time to differentiate by portrait alone.
I agree. Definitely late Roman. You could change the slip to read "Late Roman, circa 330-390" and be much more precise. At 15mm I would call it an AE3.
