Weighing 15 g., the following bronze coin has Tyche on obverse with an unusual charming style that I've never encountered before. The reverse also shows a young original Emperor. I had some photos with my IPhone but they need enough editing. I might post them soon. Here are first the best scans I could get for this gorgeous coin, if I might say. Please post all your comments.I got this coin today, along with 7 charming others. Hope we enjoy them in the week end. We do have a storm here for 4 days. I'll stick at home with my coins and all my dreams . Cheers.
The remaining coins of the lot are likely to be from Mesopotamia and Antioch. Hope some coin- friend would chime in to guess the name of the Emperor, at least.
I think it is probably a nice coin and look forward to actual pictures rather than a horribly low resolution scan... Charles, let's walk through the attribution process again. The coins you acquire locally are all from the general region, or seem to be, so that is a good starting point. You could also try reading the obverse legend, although the emperor's name is indistinct in this scan. Perhaps it is clearer on the coin. The legend starts with AYTOKKMA... so that can be quite helpful. You can pick a few features from the coin and use those as search terms in ACsearch (tyche pedestal AE, for example). Or, since you have the advantage of a narrowed-down list of issuing locales, you might get lucky with a Wildwinds hit. For instance, you could search cities of Mesopotamia on Wildwinds (and indeed the iconography and style are suggestive of this being an issue of Edessa,Mesopotamia). Go to the Greek page on Wildwinds and scroll down the page to Mesopotamia. Click each city. You will find this coin on the Edessa page. Provincial portraits often don't resemble Imperial portraits but in this case the portrait looks very much like the Imperial portraits of the emperor. You could ID the emperor of this coin by the portrait alone. And once again, please please please post pictures of your coins (in focus and well lit) rather than scans when you want us to help with attribution.
You're perfectly right. The coin was struck at Edessa. The nearest one is surely Elagabalus, but Caracalla is also plausible for his various portraits and his resemblance to Elagabalus. We can't discard Diadumenian either. Please notice the person on the column, just before Tyche's charming face. That is probably Marsyas, the Satyr. Thanks Tif.
Charles, the portrait closely resembles Imperial portraits of Gordian III and there is an example of this coin in Wildwinds. Check under Edessa, scroll the provincials, and it is the first coin shown for Gordian III. Gordian III, AE28, Edessa, Mesopotamia. 15.8gm. AVTOK K M ANT ΓOΡΔIANOC CEB, laureate, draped, cuirassed bust right / MHT KOΛ EΔECCHNΩN, Turreted and veiled bust of Tyche left, small statue of Aquarius on pedestal before. Babelon 86; BMC 128-130. (I wonder about the designation of the small statue as being "Aquarius" and wonder if there is newer scholarship which disagrees.)
Here's my version of this coin (from Carrhae vs Edessa): Gordian III, Ruled 238-244 AD AE32, Mesopotamia, Carrhae Obverse: AVTOK K M ANT ΓOΡΔIANOC CEB, Laureate draped bust right. Reverse: MHTΡ KOΛ KAΡΡHNΩN, Turreted, draped and veiled bust of Tyche left, small figure on column before, holding water- or wine-skin over shoulder; crescent above. References: BMC 55 Size: 32mm, 13.6g Notes: Depending on the contents being carried, the figure on the pedestal could be interpreted either as Aquarius or Marsyas. The former would fit nicely with the numerous astrological references found on the coinage of the region.
You should download a copy of the appropriate BMC volume, they contain most of the examples from this area and would be of great help to you.
@K.D. Thank you. I have already posted a bronze coin of Herennius Etruscus. It has a plowing scene heading Left. After long search with @A.C.H. we could locate the city of Rhesaena in Mesopotamia. H.E. is on obverse, but the plowing scene is heading right. The coin shows an eagle over the plowing scene which is driven by a priest not a founder. River god in exergue. Hope it exists at BMC.
