000_0388-2.jpg
000_0389-2.jpg
Posted 01/30/2007 03:29 am
After an intro like that, I hope my answer is satisfactory... 
The pic's a bit small, but I've seen someone on another forum post a question about a coin much like this one, found in an uncleaned lot. Sadly, it's not going to be gold - gold coins just don't go black like that.
If it's the same as the one posted on the other forum, it's a brass Roman Provincial coin, from the city of Nicaea-in-Bithynia, just across the water from Constantinople. The reverse design is three Roman military standards, with the name of the city (in Greek). Coins of much the same design are listed for emperors Elagabalus and Severus Alexander; I can't quite make out the obverse legend to be sure which emperor it might be, but I think Severus Alexander is a better match. Here's a pic from Wildwinds of one of his coins from Nicaea:
The pic's a bit small, but I've seen someone on another forum post a question about a coin much like this one, found in an uncleaned lot. Sadly, it's not going to be gold - gold coins just don't go black like that.
If it's the same as the one posted on the other forum, it's a brass Roman Provincial coin, from the city of Nicaea-in-Bithynia, just across the water from Constantinople. The reverse design is three Roman military standards, with the name of the city (in Greek). Coins of much the same design are listed for emperors Elagabalus and Severus Alexander; I can't quite make out the obverse legend to be sure which emperor it might be, but I think Severus Alexander is a better match. Here's a pic from Wildwinds of one of his coins from Nicaea:
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
