The intent of this page is to provide tips to help you better attribute Roman provincials. Please fee to email me if you have any suggestions.
First and foremost, one should realize that the reverse of a Roman provincial provides clues to the issuing city. The obverse shows (in most cases) the corresponding emperor. Knowledge about the emperor obviously provides clues to the issuing city since the cities issuing coins varies with each emperor.
Many people believe that they begin the process of attributing Roman provincials knowing absolutely nothing about the location of the issuing city. This is most certainly not the case. In today's market, for example, any given random provincial is more than likely to have come from those Roman provinces corresponding to modern day Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia (Thrace and Moesia upper and lower) because that is where the current discoveries have been made. You can verify this yourself by checking the available attributed coins on eBay.
The second major key is whether the lettering is Roman or Greek. This is a significant limiting factor because Roman colonies are few.
There has been a long hiatus during which time I have not worked on this page. However, you may also want to consult Doug Smith's page Legates: Akropolis Ancient Coins