A friend of mine gave me five coins encased in what seemed like cement. After many soakings in various solutions (things like adhesive remover, OOPS, Acetone, paint thinner, Brasso, Fantastic, and other stuff I had hanging around the house - never in combination with each other), picking with a dental tool, and brushing with a suede brush, I got them to a point where I could see designs. They are shown below. Now that you can see them, can anyone identify them? I am a Federal Reserve Note error collector so these are WAAAY out of my league. Any help would be appreciated. Especially with the fourth one which is barely visible.
The first two are Byzantine. I don't know much about them but I think the second might be Justin I. The last coin is Theodosius I from Antioch... reverse is SALVS REI-PVBLICAE, Victory walking left, trophy on shoulder, dragging captive behind her. Chi-Rho in left field. RIC
Byzantine Coins, Byzantium, 518-527, Follis 518-527, Constantinople, Cu. 15,19 g. Draped and diademed bust right / Large value mark M. Sear 62., ps not my coin
Three and Four look like Roman Provincial issues to me, maybe 2nd-3rd centuries A.D. Not really enough detail (for me) to make out the portraits...
To narrow it down a bit, the reverse of your third coin seems to show Astarte being crowned by Nike standing on a collumn.
Quite similar. But because of the curve above Astartes head my first guess would be Phoenicia, Caracalla from Byblos. Like the one shown here: https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=lot&sid=1744&lot=74
I will try to get some better photos of third and forth coin to bring out some more details. If I hold them in the sun on an angle I can see more than shown in picts. Getting picts of that is a different story.
