This is the second piece I picked up recently. It is a coin of
Herod Philip, showing Philip’s
portrait on one
side and that of
Augustus on the other. I have seen this coin listed with Philip’s
portrait as the
obverse, but other times with
Augustus’
portrait as the
obverse. This is especially common on specimens where the legends are not discernable, as on this coin.
To try and confirm whose
portrait is whose on this coin I checked out
Menorah Coin Project. This coin seems to match their OBV2 for this issue (PHI-01). I noticed that they too almost always list the
side with Philip's
portrait as the
obverse. I assume this is just tradition. I would have to think that the Emperor would not have taken too kindly to
his image being relegated to the
reverse of a coin.
I was able to do a quick
overlay of the MCP coin with mine, and the shape of the nose on the leftmost image matches that of
Augustus. And on the MCP example, the
legend CEBACTOY is readable, confirming that it is
Augustus.
I welcome other’s thoughts and comments.
Craig