Hello all, I have two ancient “Greek” coins, not in the best shape, purchased cheaply, which I need help with identifying. The first one is pretty straightforward but please confirm for me if i’m wrong. Would further cleaning be needed on this one? Aeolis, Myrina, 400 BC, AE 16mm, 3.88g Obv, Helmeted head of Athena right, Rev, Amphora central facing. The second coin is pretty worn, possibly a Billon? Obverse seems to be a male head, no helmet, facing right, Reverse is a Horse or other animal facing right, long tail with front legs slightly raised and rear slightly bent. Weight 6.17g 17mm Thank you for looking.
I would not clean your first coin any more. There is already bare metal showing. Coins a Thessaly often depict horses without riders on the reverse. Perhaps go to acsearch.info and search for "thessaly AE horse".
I agree with gsimonel - I wouldn't clean it. I think your Myrina is right - here is a similar one I found on FORVM - https://www.forumancientcoins.com/moonmoth/coins/myrina_002.html Again, as gsimonel suggests, Thessaly might be a good start for the second one.
Thanks for the replies. Is there a chance the second coin could be Roman? The more i look at the obverse head the more “Romanesque” it seems to become. I’m enjoying the research into this, which, for less than $2 makes it worthwhile, even though a bit frustrating.
The 2nd coin. My gut tells me Trajan on the obverse. The reverse looks like a boar, though the only coin I can think of with Trajan and boar right would be a quadrans. Your coin is about 2x too heavy for that. Could be an obscure provincial with a boar or horse right.
