Can someone help us ID this coin? 0

[J-Lane]

So my son has recently gotten into collecting and we purchased this coin that we are having trouble finding a similar design online. When we purchased it was labeled 267-287 AD. It also had an old piece of paper attached that said...

OBVERSE

Probus 276-282 AD

Antoninianus

Radiate Head Right

REVERSE

Military Standards

NIKAIA TT

There's other writing but it's too faint to make out. So with the info we had we searched and we've found coins that look to be a match... except for the back of the coin. We cannot find any coins that have the same back. I have found other coins online from different dates that look to be a much closer match but nothing that's an exact match. I've attached a link to the photos of our coin below.

Can anyone help us ID this coin? Thank you in advance for your help.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/8H63fn3GSdeXai8o9

[JKK]

I would be glad to give it a try, but:

Need weight and diameter.

The site is reported as malicious by my browser, so please arrange to post the pics here rather than providing a link.

[Greenstang]

I agree. I wouldn' t even attempt to open it.

Please post pictures that everyone can see.

 

 

[J-Lane]

That is a link to a folder in my Google photos account because this forum is limiting me to one photo per post. But here you go...

 

Edited December 28, 2019 by J-Lane
Fixed photos

[J-Lane]

It won't let me post the back photo. It says I can only upload 4.88MB total. 🤷‍♂️

[JKK]

2 minutes ago, J-Lane said:

It won't let me post the back photo. It says I can only upload 4.88MB total. 🤷‍♂️

I got it down to 69K. Only part of that was cropping; I think people commonly just post their phone photos without opening and resaving them in an image editor, which tends to shrink pics quite precipitously. The bad news is that I can't make out any useful information from it either way, not even the legend.

[J-Lane]

Ok, I cropped the photos and was able to upload them. I don't have a scale that I can weigh it with but it's approximately ¾ inches (1.905 cm) diameter. I know it's in tough shape but we were still wanting to at least know what kind of coin it actually is. Thank you again for everyone's help. 👍

[J-Lane]

Btw, I replaced the earlier post picture with the cropped photos.

[JKK]

I don't think it has anything to do with Probus. Looks to me like Gordian III, Nicaea in Bithynia, SGI 3671, AE 19 (perfect match to your diameter). Obv: M ANT ΓOPΔIANOC AV, radiate, draped bust right. Rev: NIKAEΩN, Four legionary standards, two inner ones topped with eagles, outer two topped with wreaths. A lot of the SGI 3671s out there seem to have three standards rather than four; seems to be considered a variant. Dates would be 238-244 CE. Greek provincial coins tend to throw people for a loop because they aren't found in the primary Roman references.

Take a look at this example for comparison.

Edited December 28, 2019 by JKK

[J-Lane]

8 minutes ago, JKK said:

I don't think it has anything to do with Probus. Looks to me like Gordian III, Nicaea in Bithynia, SGI 3671, AE 19 (perfect match to your diameter). Obv: M ANT ΓOPΔIANOC AV, radiate, draped bust right. Rev: NIKAEΩN, Four legionary standards, two inner ones topped with eagles, outer two topped with wreaths. A lot of the SGI 3671s out there seem to have three standards rather than four; seems to be considered a variant. Dates would be 238-244 CE. Greek provincial coins tend to throw people for a loop because they aren't found in the primary Roman references.

Take a look at this example for comparison.

Wow! Thank you JKK! That appears to be a very close match. My son is having a lot of fun with this hobby but it can be a little overwhelming trying to identify this stuff. He's keeping a log book with descriptions so it's nice to have some info for him to write down. Thank you again for your help.

[JKK]

1 minute ago, J-Lane said:

Wow! Thank you JKK! That appears to be a very close match. My son is having a lot of fun with this hobby but it can be a little overwhelming trying to identify this stuff. He's keeping a log book with descriptions so it's nice to have some info for him to write down. Thank you again for your help.

You're very welcome.

It's a fantastic hobby for YNs (young numismatists) and their folks. You might check into a local coin club--not sure how others are, but ours has a lot for YNs and goes out of its way to include them. For example, YNs get to pick out a free coin from a bin. If they do a presentation on it, they get to pick another one, and so on. At our coin show last year, two of my volunteer crew were a YN and his dad, who loves to see the fun his son is having being treated like a friend and colleague, given responsibility, included in the banter and camaraderie. Local clubs can have a lot of knowledge resources and any collector with five brain cells to rub together understands the need to help the next generation start on the journey that got us where we are. Without bringing them along, our hobby will contract.