What era?Challenge for the experts

scor

Can somebody help me identify and estimate the value of this coin

coachleonard

Hard to tell if your coin is bronze or corroded silver. If it's silver and between the size of a penny and a nickel, I would say it's a Roman Republic denerii-- that would date it about 150 BC- 49 BC.

scor

The coin is of copper,the whitish colour is an effect of the flash.Can somebody help?

Steve27

CIVITAS

Looks South Italian to me. Perhaps even Sicilian. Most likely Campania. Circa 3rd Century B.C. Many small city-states(?) issued bronze coins with helmeted head of Athena on the obverse and a rooster and star on reverse (I think you have the reverse upside down) with an abbreviated legend stating city name. It could be something completely different too, but it's so far gone that you'll probably never know for certain.

scor

Thanks to those who tried to help.Is there any expert out there,who can supply more info?Is it a valuable coin?

lordmarcovan

Bronze, not copper, then.

I would go with what Civitas said. Probably not worth a lot in that grade, but interesting, and quite ancient. Looks like it was sea-salvaged, or buried in low-lying ground near the water table. Neat.

Edited to answer your question about value: I don't think there is any way to put a value on it without an exact attribution, which may not be possible. My wild guess would be around five bucks, but admittedly, that's just pulling a number out of thin air.

scor

It was found in deep soil.The material is copper.

coachleonard

A UK find? If so, that would be quite interesting. And though you say it's bronze, I still think I detect some silver on the high surfaces, unless that's a light trick of the scan. If so, we could both be right-- this coin could well be a fouree: a silver-coated bronze coin. Even official mints did this in ancient times (hence, people often had to nick their denarii to make sure it was good silver). Plus, I also noticed the "spokes" on the reverse. This made me think it was a god on a chariot, a common design device on Roman Republic coins.
The sun-ray-like spoke is also seen on Celtic coins as well. But then,
that Athena head is a very Greek design type, as others have said.
Would certainly be worthwhile to keep researching it-- sometimes it seems hopeless, then one day you run across a picture plate that exactly matches your mystery coin and bingo!

scor

I will take new pictures in natural light so maybe it could help.What is strange for me is that nobody has yet confirmed something.I do believe that many inthe forum has seen it .What I ask,is it a rare finding?

coachleonard

It may or may not be a rare coin-- but I'd say to find anything that old is a pretty rare FIND. And much more so if it were found in the British Isles or France, as opposed to Greece or Italy.

scor

Why it would be special if it was found in the British Ilses or France?Tommorow I will upload new pictures.

coachleonard

At least from a historical standpoint it would be much more interesting if found in say, Britian-- 'cause
it would point to the fact that it was brought over and lost during the B.c or early A.D period, probably
by one of the earliest roman invaders. And if this coin is actually 3rd-2nd Century BC Greek, then I'd
REALLY wonder how it got over to Britain, since that part of Western Europe was largely cut-off from the
Greek empire of that period.

scor

New Picyures attached,these where taken in natural light .I have taken advise and now I am sure that the material is Red copper.Any one can comment?

scor

Anymore help?

scor

I am still looking around.I have'nt gave up yet.Can anybody tell me where I can start to do some research?Help will be very much appriciated