Old Coin, Don't Know What It Is | Byzantine Nicomedia Follis

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Author	Replies: 7 / Views: 2,252
docz New Member Norway 3 Posts	Posted 02/14/2013 09:44 am Hello folks. I got this coin as a gift. A friend of mine got it at an auction for 5$ and gave it to me as a late christmas present. I am not a coin collector, so I have no idea what it is, or how to find out what it is. It is made of copper or bronze or something brown. It looks really old - really old. one side has some kind of markings that hard to see, but it looks like a "X" with "NIKO" underneath. other side has a big "M" with some other markings that are hard to see. I will attach scans of the coin. Again, I don't know what it is, where it came from or what it might be worth. But it would be cool to know if there is any kind of story behind these types of coins. Kind regards Identified - moved to Ancients forum - Sap Edited by docz 02/14/2013 09:44 am Report this Post to the Staff

rooneydog Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 739 Posts	Posted 02/14/2013 10:22 am It looks Byzantine Nicomedia mint - somewhere around 570AD at a guess. If you have no success on this forum I would post on the Ancients forum http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/...?FORUM_ID=51 but hopefully the experts will be along soon. Oh and Report this Post to the Staff
echizento Moderator United States 23731 Posts	Posted 02/15/2013 5:14 pm This is a very interesting coin. It is indeed Byzantine, but what makes it really interesting is that it has been restruck several times. It has two reverses and an two obverses. The first images is struck on the reverse of a half follis the body of the first figure who I believe to be Heraclius uses the X (10). The mint mark NIKO for Nicomedia should only appear on the reverse. The second image is struck on the obverse of an earlier coin and is marked with an M which is a follis (40) there is a partial mint mark N CO for Nicomedia. Report this Post to the Staff
docz New Member Norway 3 Posts	Posted 02/15/2013 8:13 pm Forgive me for my ignorance, but restruck, does that mean the coin was recomissioned / recycled at some point? Or does it mean that it is a fake? DocZ Report this Post to the Staff
philadelphian Pillar of the Community United States 3253 Posts	Posted 02/15/2013 8:42 pm Recycled. Coins are generally struck on a blank planchet (a metal disc), but an older coin can serve the same purpose, and can, at times, be had more cheaply than freshly-made planchets. Report this Post to the Staff
echizento Moderator United States 23731 Posts	Posted 02/15/2013 11:10 pm The coin is real and dates to early 600's AD. It was restruck over and older coin. This is not an uncommon practice but this one was done in an interesting way. I forgot to say to the community earlier. Report this Post to the Staff
docz New Member Norway 3 Posts	Posted 02/16/2013 03:02 am cool! thank you for the info :) I was thinking old, but that is OLD! :) Is it worth anything? Or is the 5$ my friend paid for it about right? Not that it matters that much, because I'm going to keep it because I think it's cool to have an item this ancient. Report this Post to the Staff
rooneydog Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 739 Posts	Posted 02/17/2013 04:05 am Thank you echizento for the information. I couldn't work out why there were 2 niko mintmarks and it never crossed my mind it was a restrike. Report this Post to the Staff
	Replies: 7 / Views: 2,252

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