This appears to be a provincial of Julia Mamaea from Marcianopolis. Problem is that I don't believe that this city ever issued a coin with Mamaea alone, only confronted bust types of her and Severus Alexander. Take a look: Julia Mamaea (282-284 AD) Ae : Marcianopolis, Moesia Inferior : Tiberius Julius Festus, magistrate (22mm, 9.0gms) Obv: IVLIA MAMAEA AVG; Bust right Rev: VΠ TIB IOVΛ ΦHCTOY MAPKIANOΠOΛITΩN; Eagle standing right, head left, with wreath in beak Quite a colorful coin (and tough to photograph) which to me is clearly the named magistrate common on identical reverse coins of Severus Alexander with Mamaea. What do you think? Don't have the confronted bust type with this reverse so if you have it please post a pic.
Interesting. AMNG I, 1, p. 300 has no. 1086, a coin with Mamaea alone and Artemis on the reverse. But its obverse is in Greek; yours is in Latin. Very strange bilingual coin you have.
@Roman Collector : Thanks. As I am hardly an expert on these, and I think I remember you collected this city, do you agree that it is most likely a coin of Marcianopolis of Mamaea alone?
Unless there's another city that Julius Festus was the magistrate for. But Marcianopolis should have Greek legends on both obverse and reverse. This coin is a real enigma.
@Roman Collector : Sorry, I missed what you were saying about the mixed legends in your original post. Very strange.
I've been thinking about this a lot. Here is a coin from my collection from the Thracian city of Deultum which, as a Roman colony, used Latin inscriptions. Compare the obverses of our two coins. Julia Mamaea, AD 222-235. Roman provincial Æ 23.4 mm, 9.73 g. Thrace, Deultum, AD 222-235. Obv: IVLIA MAMAEA AVG, diademed and draped bust right. Rev: COL FL PAC DEVLT, Homonoia standing left, holding patera and cornucopiae. Refs: Varbanov 2337; Moushmov 2623; Jurukova 164; CN 7165; SNG Bobokov 535. They aren't die-matches, but I'd be very surprised if they weren't engraved by the same person. I suspect that there was a centralized mint along the Black Sea coast that minted coins for several cities in the region and that Deultum and Marcianopolis were serviced by this centralized mint. Perhaps your coin was a mint error -- a hybrid/mule -- in which the obverse meant for Deultum was unintentionally paired with a reverse intended for Marcianopolis.
@Roman Collector : Quite the detective work. Much appreciated. BTW, it looks like this coin truly belongs in your collection so if you want it PM me with your mailing address I will send it off to you.
I agree with Roman Collector: a mule with an obverse of Mamaea meant for coins of Deultum, combined with a rev. of Marcianopolis struck under the governor Tib. Jul. Festus, which was meant to be coupled with an obverse of Severus Alexander alone, not of Sev. Alex. with Mamaea, since such double-headed coins are all 5 assarion pieces with value mark E=5 on reverse, which your coin omits. Obv. die might be Draganov's obv. 75 of Deultum; and there are a number of similar rev. dies in my photofile of bronzes of Sev. Alexander under governor Festus at Marcianopolis. It would be nice to obtain a plaster cast of the coin, which would probably allow me to identify both dies with certainty.
