Help Identify a Vespasian Provincial and Barbaric Byzantine follis

These 2 coins were among 5 purchased as "unidentified", and while the others were easy to ID, after they arrived yesterday I spent all evening puzzling over the (presumptive) Vespasian without success, finding no matches on Wildwinds or via Google-searching with different small portions of the Greek legend on the reverse.

Vespasian Provincial, 19mm 4.63g


On obverse, from top of head down the left side it appears to read "ΟΥΕΣΠΑΣΙΑΝΟΝ" then continuing up the right side "KAIC.........IAIEIΣ" (or ...IΔIEIΣ or ...IΛIEIΣ)

On reverse, which seems more complete, It appears to read, clockwise from 6:30 to the left of the figure's feet "ΟΣΦΙΛΟΠ ΑΤΡΙ ΕΠ[?]ΚΟΛΡΕΤΙΔ" and I figure it 's supposed to read more like "ΦΙΛΟΠΑΤΡΙ ΕΠ[?]ΚΟΛΡΕΤΙΔΟΣ"

Any insights or ideas would be greatly appreciated!

The 30mm, 17.67g barbarous follis is a different sort of mystery in that I never fully expected to have it perfectly pinned down. I can't tell if the legend is pure gibberish, an attempt at copying the legend on Anastasius' coinage, or something else entirely. I also can't tell if it is a Germanic migration period imitation or Arab imitation, though I paid pretty decent money for it assuming it was a Germanic imitation of an Anastasius follis (and because it was super-extra-barbarous in its delightful duck-lipped appearance). If anyone has seen anything similar or has insights about who made it I'd be very interested to know, as I searched the internet at large as well as completed auction databases and saw nothing quite like it.



Thank you!

 

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I'm no good with provincials, but I'd wager that the follis is probably contemporary to Anastasius, Justin, or Justinian. I've frankly never seen anything quite like it - the Germanic imitations I'm familiar with are mostly AE4 sized, excepting for the very rare large Visigoth and Ostrogoth coins loosely modeled after old sestertii. At any rate, I believe the early Arabs only imitated contemporary issues, namely Heraclius.

 

On the reverse of the Flavian provincial, Philopater is likely a magistrate's name, not the name of the city.

 

That follis is awesome. I am not an expert on Byzantine but I have never seen anything like it.

John

 

The magistrates name is the key to your Vespasian: Philopatris.


PHRYGIA, Cotiaeum. Vespasian. AD 69-79. Æ 21mm (4.69 g, 11h). Ti. Klau. Aretis philopatris, magistrate. Laureate head right / Zeus(?) standing left, raising arm. RPC 1401. VF, black patina with earthen highlights.

 

Thanks for the comments everyone!

Yeah, my sense was that the Arab issues imitated 7th century coinage and tended to be rather small, whereas this piece seemed like a good-faith effort to produce a coin with a weight roughly equivalent to the Folles of those 3 emperors, though the style of the reverse lacking the reignal year and the "ANA" of the apparent "H ANA + NV PF...S" (all retrograde Ns) had me thinking Anastasius. Maybe it's all just complete gibberish though. Or maybe the name of some Germanic king or chieftain (a fella can hope lol )

Wahoo thanks Ken (and Roman Collector)! Guess it was on wildwinds after all. I've still got a headache from eyeballing the coin for hours last night, hopefully now I'll be able to recover!

 

The AE imitation of the Anastasius follis might be a local coinage for Sirmium under the Gepids. Take a look here for an air of similarity:

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=4801562

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=3110089

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=3434064

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=3296002

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=3335877

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=3336518

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=439995

 

Good call! But for some reason the bottom five links are all going to the target of the second...

A fantastic imitative follis, @Plumbata, I'm jealous!!

 

The additional links can be accessed by copy/pasting the string of numbers. These examples certainly appear relevant and visually informative with their retrograde Ns and goofy stars, and the last example's retrograde "CON" mintmark seems to be what is going on with mine as well:

Migration Period
The Gepids. Sirmium AD 491-518. Quarter Siliqua AR 12mm., 0,51g. Diademed and draped head right / Legend around monogram of Theoderic, above cross, below, star. very fine Cf. Wroth p. 58, 78.

UNATTRIBUTED COINS OF THE GERMAN TRIBES
Pseudo-Imperial Coinage. In the name of Anastasius I, 491-518. Follis, uncertain mint mid 5th century, Æ 10.76 g. DN ANAST – SIVS PP A Pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust r. Rev. Large M; in field above, cross, on sides, two stars, B (inverted) below. In exergue, CON. cf. MIB 23 (for prototype).
Brown tone and very fine
This coin is probably an issue of the Gepids, a German tribe defeated by the Lombards in 467.

Anastasius I. 491-518. Æ Follis (33mm, 11.13 g, 6h). Contemporary imitation of a Constantinople mint issue. Diademed, draped, and [cuirassed] bust right / Large M; cross above, stars flanking; Γ(?)//CON (retrograde). Cf. MIBE X1–5. VF, green patina. From the Iconodule Collection.


I'd certainly be happy with a Gepidic attribution, thanks for the insights!

 

I believe they are babylonian nickels

 

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