I have attached a photo of a coin that I have been soaking in distilled water for the past month. I found this while in Germany using a metal detector. The details are lots sharper - originally was entirely crusted over, although I cannot see any lettering on the portrait side yet. The reverse side looks to me like a man in a chariot behind a horse. I can see the letters "SC" on the bottom of the reverse. Any ideas of what century this is from or if it is Roman?
Roman, yes. On the upper part of the reverse "VICT" is visable, so some sort of Victory commemorative. What's the size?
The portrait looks like Marcus Aurelius or Septimius Severus. It is hard to tell even though I cropped the pictures, blew them up, played with them, etc. Marcus Aurelius ruled about 180 AD; Septimius Severus about 200. SC (Senatus Consulto) appeared on bronze coins, generally, seldom on silver. That means that this was intended as a bronze coin. If it is the size of a US Quarter Dollar, then this would be, likely, an as. You might have some luck searching the Wildwinds site (www.wildwinds.com) for the emperors. You will have a lot of hits. So, narrow it for bronze or AE (abbreviation for bronze). Also narrow it for VICT and "biga" (biga=two horses drawing a chariot). It will still take some work to search, but you will be looking at hundreds, not thousands, of images.
Thanks for all the advice. I used to have the book "Roman Coins and their Values ' by David Sear, but unfortunately I lost in a flood. I guess I just have lots of photos to search through! I think it will be easier as more details show up on reverse. Is hard to tell if it is a plow horse or chariot horse on reverse, although I suspect it is a Chariot horse. Here is another coin I found that I believe is Magnentius.