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Message:: [QUOTE="lehmansterms, post: 3390580, member: 80804"]That's not one of the most common reverse types. The quality and color of the metal makes it appear to be from the early or joint-reign era, before Valerian's misadventures in Persia. Soon after he assumed the sole imperium, the Empire's fiscal situation had deteriorated to a point that to keep up with the rampant inflation, the silver content of the (already mere billon) antoninianus dropped to near zero - and all the way to zero in some places and cases. It was during Gallienus' sole reign that the "official" practice of silvering - applying or creating by various processes, a thin film of silver, or at least a white-colored metal over the copper - was adopted by the administration as an acceptable technique at many of the mints. This was not without exception and the coinage of Antioch, particularly, tended to be of a better quality of metal (relatively speaking) and the workmanship of higher standards than at many of the other mints.The presence of a pontil - the place(s) on the rim where the cast blank was broken off from the "tree" of flans in which it was cast - is very common on ancient coins of almost all types and not, by itself, a definitive indicator of inauthenticity.Looking quickly in RIC V, your coin seems most likely to be RIC V, i 452. The "RIC frequency" rating is "scarce". It would also be RSC 1173.[/QUOTE]