Identification help

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by ancient times, Oct 23, 2019.

  1. ancient times

    ancient times Legatus Legionis

    The coin is 12mm, 3.8 gram, looks like brass maybe copper. no writing, but the bust looks like a child and on reverse has a snake or serpent on altar. it is just an interesting coin to figure out.
    QS14QQ3DT (2).jpg QS14QQ3PZ (2).jpg
    Thanks for helping! I thought maybe Caracalla?
     
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  3. PlanoSteve

    PlanoSteve Well-Known Member

    I think it's just pareidolia. It looks to me like a squashed grape, & I'm suddenly in the mood for a glass of pinot noir, even though it's only early afternoon. :smuggrin::D:p;)
     
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  4. lehmansterms

    lehmansterms Many view intelligence as a hideous deformity

    I would normally start off suggesting the prolific mint-cities of the Danube basin and their seemingly endless variety of small and tiny Æ's created for the various Severans - there are many different serpent-themed reverse types.
    However, this appears to have a tapered flan - a thin conic section with a trapezoidal cross-section, the result of a particular flan-production method. Although flans of this sort are found in a number of places, the primary places in which they were used were Syria (mainly under the Seleukids) and Egypt during the Ptolemaic era.
    First, although the portrait rings no bells immediately, I'd have a good look at listings of the smaller denominations from Egypt (ca. 2nd century A.D.?). Your coin is just about exactly the correct size to be a dichalcon - the smallest Æ denomination produced in any quantity. These seldom had any obverse legend (to be fair, the Seleukids almost never put any legend on any of their coins' obverses) and the only characters tend to be an "L" (the hieratic form of the hieroglyph for "year") and a regnal year number in Greek numerals. Α, Β, Γ, Δ, ε, Σ, Ζ, Η, Θ, Ι, and so on...
     
  5. ancient times

    ancient times Legatus Legionis

    thanks, I will keep searching
     
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