I bought this little coin which looks like its been cast. It is 20mm and 4.66gr. Could it be a copy from a colony and what does the reverse depicts? Thanks for your help.
It's from Nicopolis in Moesia Inferior, a leaping lion. Im busy today, but that should get you in the right direction.
The OP coin is Nicaea in Bithynia but I am not clear on the obverse so I am less than sure of Geta. The reverse legend is laid out like this elephant: CNG 160, Lot: 154. Estimate $75. Sold for $52. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee. BITHYNIA, Nicaea. Geta. As Caesar, AD 198-209. Æ 15mm (2.28 g). Bare-headed, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind / NIKAIEWN, elephant standing right. RG pg. 463, 516; BMC Pontus pg. 166, 88; SNG Copenhagen ; SNG von Aulock -. VF, dark brown patina, some cleaning scratches revealing bare metal. CNG also sold a lion coin but it was right facing, walking and had the last two letters under.
Geta, silver teradrachm of Tyre, 14.424 g Sear 2900: Greek Imperial Coins & their Values, 1982, p. 274 Bellinger 86, 300 Pounds Ster.: 110. I have to find the auction flip to see where I got it from ca. 2012.
So, "bi-metal" with ancients just refers to a combination of more then one alloy and doesn't refer to the bi-metal assembly used on many modern coin flans (eg: the one Euro)?
I'm not sure what Trajanwinger meant by "bi-metal." There were no bi-metal ancient coins that I'm aware of. That's a fairly modern arrangement. Orichalcum is an alloy--just like bronze--not a combination of alloys.
There are ancient medallions which are bimetallic. Here's a spectacular example from CNG's archives: If you want to stretch the definition you could include gilded coins from Axum. Example from CNG's archives:
TIF, Thanks for posting an image of that fine example of an ancient Roman "bi-metal" medallion. Definitely a spectacular piece with a visually distinct boundary between one alloy and another. Up until this time I thought bi-metal coinage was strictly a modern invention! Rob FNQ, Au
I hope everyone at all interested in this subject read the CNG write-up for this coin linked by TIF. I remember thinking at the time that someone got a real deal on this one which failed to meet estimate. The description included, " Good VF, untouched bi-colored patina with central section of black-green and outer ring of lighter green, minute traces of encrustation in some of the devices." It sold for about the price of a new Honda I bought about that time and walking would have done me good. I have to wonder how many medallion types were made and lost to time. Not all were bimetallic. See: https://www.cngcoins.com/Search.asp...1&SEARCH_IN_CONTAINER_TYPE_ID_4=1&VIEW_TYPE=0
Found the flip: It's from Tom Cederlind, lot # 169, silver tetradrachm 26mm 14.41 g. possibly a 2012 or 2013 sale. I'll go by my wt as I was laid off and quite in need of the extra 0.014 grams of what looks like to be 50% or 60% silver. Also I use an Ohaus Analytical scale calibrated against a reference weight set. Regarding the CNG bimetallic medallion, what would be really interesting these days is to use an XRFS and try to get a detailed composition of each of the 2 different metals.
