I need help: Baffling Beat-Up Roman Provincial

I've been getting batches of low-grade Roman Provincials of late, which have been a lot of fun to attribute, if not very handsome to look at. Mostly I've been having pretty good luck figuring things out, but this one baffles me.

It is 24 mm and weighs 9.60 grams. Part of the reverse legend is visible; what looks like KOΛO...? which I thought might be Colophon / Kolophon in Ionia, but I'm having no luck there. The big visible thing is the legend across the field, with that weird O that looks like a diamond. Not really sure about the deity either

The portrait looks like an older guy, short or no hair - Vespasian? Trajan Decius? Trebonianus Gallus? Philip?



Any help much appreciated.

 

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The reverse looks like Hercules to me. Holding the lion skin and his club.
Not sure if that helps or not. Still looking.

 

Thanks for that suggestion, ff02. I hadn't thought of Hercules, but now that I look at it, it is a possibility. The thing that threw me off is that I think he might be wearing a short "skirt" like thing (I don't really know my Graeco-Roman clothing beyond "Toga! Toga! Toga!". But the condition is so poor, maybe he is Hercules-nude.

 

That diamond "O" is throwing me too. I have no clue.

 

I think I see ΝΙΚΟΠΟΛΙΤΟΝ (Nicopolis) across the top of the reverse, but I am not certain.

 

Nicopolis ad Istrum, probably Elagablus. Reverse is Asklepios. Like this or similar:

https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/6/1163



Only two examples in RPC but I see at least a few others in ACsearch. Still... seems legitimately rare no matter how you slice it .

 

Kudos to @TIF!

 

@TIF for the win!

 

Looks like the RPC coin and yours might be a reverse die match. Because of coin condition and photographic conditions of the RPC coin, I wasn't able to get a good overlay for the obverse.

Here's your coin with an outline of the RPC's reverse overlaid:

 

Thank you so much @TIF - not only for the ID, but the terrific overlay as well. Nothing like a British Museum die match to make me feel like a real numismatist!
This one was really stumping me, and it seems I was barking up the wrong numismatic tree (not an old portrait at all, since Elagabalus was a teenager). Good to see how that weird Diamond-O fits in as well. You made my whole numismatic weekend!

Thanks to everybody else who helped out too. I do appreciate it.

As it so happens, I found another die match from that same low-grade Provincial lot - and it seems to be a bit scarce, if unattractive:


Severus Alexander Æ Tetrassarion
(c. 222-235 A.D.)
Kallatis, Thrace / Moesia Inf.
AVT K M AV[Ρ CEYH] AΛEXANΔΡOC, laureate head r. / KAΛΛATIANΩN, Tyche
standing left, holding rudder and cornucopiae, Δ in left field.
Varbanov 348; Moushmov 314.
(12.32 grams / 26 x 25 mm)
eBay Feb. 2022 Lot @ $3.80
Notes: Die-match obverse and reverse to Ken Dorney specimen sold on Vcoins ($150.00 but much nicer coin). Noted as "rare." Did not find any on acsearch; but Wildwinds has one.

Here is the die match, to former CTer Ken Dorney, from a Vcoin listing - it is really nice:




For you connoisseurs of ancient coin damage, here is a close-up of that flattened/clipped edge on mine: