Turn one worn disc into a careful shortlist.

The visual decision tree

Five clues, in the right order.

1. 01

   Choose a broad materialSurface colour can lie after burial
   Gold-colouredDo not scratch-test

   Silver-colouredCould include billon

   Copper alloyBrown, green, or black surface

   Mixed grey-bronzeTry overlapping database filters

   ?UnsureKeep several materials selected
   Possible match

   Later Roman “silver” pieces can be billon or bronze with only a small amount of silver. OCRE recommends trying more than one material when uncertain.

   Confirm it with the other face, letters, size, weight, and an official database.
2. 02

   Measure the widest diameterAE labels are size bands, not exact coin names
   AE1More than 25 mm

   AE219–25 mm

   AE314–18 mm

   AE4About 5–14 mm

   AE4 minimUnder 5 mm
   Possible match

   A worn or clipped piece can be smaller than it was when struck. Keep the measured size as evidence; do not force it into a denomination.

   Confirm it with the other face, letters, size, weight, and an official database.
3. 03

   Study the portrait and headwearChoose the closest visible shape

   These are real Roman coins. Use them to compare broad shapes—not to force an exact emperor match. Photo credits

   

   

   Bare or laureateNo headwear—or a tied leaf wreath

   

   Radiate crownStraight sun rays around the head

   

   Pearl diademA narrow band made from small beads

   

   HelmetA hard cap, often with a crest or plume

   

   Two portraitsRecord both people and which way they face

   

   No portrait visibleDo not guess—use letters, size, and reverse
   Possible match

   A crown with sun rays is a radiate clue. It narrows the search, but many rulers and irregular copies used this form.

   Confirm it with the other face, letters, size, weight, and an official database.
   Photo credits and reuse licenses

   Each photo links to its Wikimedia Commons file page. The local square WebP crops keep the license named below; no find coordinates are republished here. Open the attribution file.

   • Hadrian denarius, obverse ↗Photo: Classical Numismatic Group, Inc., via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.5 · source file cropped on Wikimedia Commons.
   • Trajan denarius, obverse ↗Photo: James Grout / Encyclopaedia Romana, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 · cropped.
   • Antoninianus of Postumus, obverse ↗Photo: MumblerJamie, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0 · cropped.
   • Solidus of Valentinian II, obverse ↗Photo: York Museums Trust Staff / York Museums Trust (Yorkshire Museum), via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · cropped.
   • Constantinople Commemorative coin ↗Photo: The Portable Antiquities Scheme / Rod Trevaskus, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0 · obverse cropped.
   • Licinius father-and-son gold multiple ↗Photo: Photo: Marie-Lan Nguyen · Musée de la BnF, Beistegui 232, via Wikimedia Commons · Public Domain Mark 1.0 · cropped.
   • Illegible Roman coin obverse ↗Photo: Colchester Museums / Caroline McDonald; The Portable Antiquities Scheme / The Trustees of the British Museum, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · cropped.
4. 04

   Copy only the letters you seeNever complete a ruler’s name from memory
   IMP · CONSTAN?TINVS · AVG

   Write gaps as gaps. In OCRE, remove spaces and punctuation and use an asterisk for missing text.

   *CONSTANTINVS*This searches legends containing CONSTANTINVS with unreadable letters before or after it.
5. 05

   Describe the reverseCount people, objects, symbols, and letters
   ↟Standing person

   ♙Seated person

   VWinged Victory

   ⅡTwo soldiers

   ⚑Standards

   ▥Gate / building

   △Altar

   ○Wreath

   ♞Animal

   ≈Ship

   ⅢSeveral figures

   ABCLetters only
   • Copy letters below the main image: this area is the exergue.
   • Record symbols on the left and right.
   • Note which way every person or animal faces.
   • Count figures, standards, stars, dots, or pellets.
   Possible match

   OCRE can combine the reverse description with portrait, letters, material, date range, and mint. Compare your measured size separately. A picture match alone is not enough.

   Confirm it with the other face, letters, size, weight, and an official database.

Portrait timeline

An orientation tool—not proof.

Co-emperors and regional issues overlap. Use this strip to find the right part of OCRE, then compare all the recorded clues.

Lookalikes and limits

“Not in OCRE” does not mean “not old.”

OCRE covers Roman imperial coin types from Augustus in 31 BC through Zeno in AD 491. It is not a database of every Greek, provincial, Celtic, Byzantine, medieval, or modern coin.

Country action panel

The find’s country chooses the next step.