I've finally gotten around to photographing some up the stumpers in my to-be-identified dish. Some of these coins have been sitting there for over 10 years. Gives you some idea about how difficult it is for me to admit defeat. Anyway, I'll probably be posting some coins every now and then over the next few weeks, hoping to take advantage of your expertise. Here's the first one. I can't make out much of anything on the reverse. Perhaps it's some heavily corroded abstract design surrounded by some non-Western letters. The lettering on the obverse reminds me of Kharoshthi, (or maybe Phoenician) It's about 18 mm and weighs around 3.2g. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks for your suggestions.
I'm with Theo. Probably a Roman Provincial and so the portrait may or may not resemble the Imperial version of the person. That said, to me it looks like a Provincial portrait of Nero. @gsimonel, if it is difficult to make out the legend, perhaps a pencil rubbing might bring something to light?
For a long time I thought it was some sort of Hadrian provincial. But I'm beginning to suspect that the obverse letting is not Latin or Greek, so that's why I'm wondering if it might be a Bactrian or Kushan ruler.
I tried making a rubbing, but it wasn't much help. However, I'm pretty sure the writing on the obverse is Kharosthi. I've attached a photo highlighting 3 letters that are pretty clear on my coin. I've also rotated the reverse photo 270 degrees. There are two dots on the left side that may be part of a border of dots. There also appears to be so Kharosthi lettering around the outside but within the border, but with so much damage, I can't make out anything in particular.
I'm now thinking this might be a posthumous coin of Hermaios. For comparison, here's one from Ephesus currently up for auction: http://www.icollector.com/ANCIENT-I...-90-70-B-C-AE-tetradrachm-neat-type_i31286685
I think you're barking up the wrong numismatic tree-- the corrosion and wear of your coin is just distorting the legends. I still think it is Provincial and most likely Nero. Edited: I think I've found an obverse die match! Nero. Working on an overlay now
I can't say with certainty that your reverse is a temple but I think this is an obverse die match. Either way, I think you can at least now attribute your coin as a Nero struck in Tomis . (edited: in ACsearch the only hits I get for "Nero Tomis" are these coins with temple reverse so it seems likely that yours is also a temple.) MOESIA INFERIOR, Tomis. Nero. AD 54-68. Æ 17mm (4.08 g). Laureate head right / Tetrastyle temple. RPC I 1836; Mouchmov 1788 I used Photoshop make the CNG coin more of a line drawing for ease of positioning the overlay.
CNG doesn't spell out the legends but here's another listing which does. I think you were being mislead by the direction of the legend. It's counterclockwise, which made the sloppily-rendered letters look very odd. https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=428478 MESIE, TOMIS, Néron (54-68), AE bronze, Droit : NEPΩN KΛAVΔIOC Tête l. à droite. Revers : TOMITΩN ECTI-AIOV Temple tétrastyle sur deux degrés. Ref.: RPC 1836; SNG Stancomb 894 var. 3,30g.
Brilliantly deployed ... @gsimonel, note that I changed the region on the attribution post. That CNG coin was from 2007 and either the region is a typo/error or scholarship changed. Probably the former. Tomis is in Moesia Inferior, not Thrace.
