The small letter x before the face of a helmeted man pushed me to acquire this coin, especially that the face is totally new to me. The reverse shows Arabic legend, I think. I feel it's something interesting to identify. The coin weighs 10.13 g.
Interesting coin. I figured out the provenance if you are interested in knowing - otherwise have fun attributing it!!!
First blush, looks like a figural bronze imitating a late roman emperor with spear. I don't recall the type off hand.
Pretty interesting and it reminds me of a Probus portrait, but encircled by Arabic legends with another Arabic legend on the reverse. The Zengids apparently didn't mind the Sunni proscription against human and animal representations on coins. I'm not sure of the reverse meaning but it probably is something like "There is no god but god, and Muhammad is his messenger".
It's from the Zengid atabegs of Sinjar, Qutb al-Din Muhammad b. Zengi (reigned 594-616 AH/ 1197-1219 AD). Spengler/Sayles type 81.1 (variety with tamgha before face, dated 596 AH). Spengler and Sayles state the obverse is probably based on a coin of Caracalla from Edessa in Mesopotamia.
Valuable comments indeed. What about helmeted Constantine? Then, does the small letter X before the face represent the tamgha. What does it symbolize ?
On high-grade examples of the OP coin, you can see that the "emperor" is laureate rather than crowned; this is why Spengler and Sayles supported the Caracalla coin as likely inspiration, rather than various other candidates (like this Constantine). The X-shaped thing before the face is the tamgha. Tamghas were used by various Turkic, Mongol, and other nomadic tribes as symbols of a specific tribe, clan, or family. It's basically just identifying the ruler's family.
I agree about the tamghas. Very common feature of Central Asian coinage like Soghdia, etc. The Turks, starting north of China, passed through Central Asia and learn how to make coins there.
