hotwheelsearl

For mail call today, I was surprised to see a large envelope postmarked 22NOV, which just arrived. Almost a month in transit for Priority Mail, but it DID have to go all the way to the Gulf of Aden... Internet is pretty awful here, so not sure when I'll be able to post pictures. However, my very generous benefactor, krispupsis, sent me a gorgeous heavy siliqua of Constantius II! He evidently felt bad for my poor, thin, bent, and cracked siliqua that I had posted some time ago (kudos for researching my post history!) As opposed to normal siliquae which were around the 18mm mark, this one is a whopping 21mm, huge and hefty. This example exhibits a lovely gunmetal-gray color with some slight iridescent edge toning. A beautiful coin, and greatly appreciated!

Huh, what strikes you as fake on this? I don't like the patina myself, it looks a little too "applied"

Great advice! I did the plastic container version, but didn't put any egg on top. I did this on a Philippine peso, it started out with some beautiful blue fringe tone, but then got dark and ugly pretty shortly thereafter. Probably because I didn't clean the surfaces first. The egg tasted good though

Nice! I am very curious how your tone will evolve over time. In my experience, my egg toners tend to turn much darker and much uglier in just a few days or weeks.

This looks very blue in hand, trust me! Unusual for sestertii to get this blue, typically I feel like they go any color but blue.

I've gotten results that sort of look like an oil slick - blue, yellow, orangish. The longer I leave a coin in, the more blue it gets, until eventually it just goes black. (pls keep in mind I haven't ever defrauded anybody with a fake tone, I just think it's fun to do on harshly cleaned modern coins or trashy ancients that will never get sold)

Not that it matters, but how does that impact any pension??

Donna, I've gotten very similar results with egg toning - hard boil an egg, mash it up, seal it in a tupperware with a silver coin. a few minutes later, a "beautiful" artificial patina forms! It's a great way to obscure surface cleaning marks or defects...

Every time I see this type, I am reminded of the absolute travesty of Mussolini's bulldozing of the Meta Sudans. 2,000 years later, it was the only surviving Roman functional Roman fountain. It was in a high state of preservation, still quite tall, and still "sweated" water as it did when it was built. To widen a road, our boy decided that it was only reasonable to knock that fountain down, and there is now nothing left but a plaque.

Well, halloween is just another tuesday on the good ole USS Dwight E Eisenhower. At least they stopped flying planes for a bit so we've got Nightmare Before Christmas playing

Awesome, thanks!

I always liked the different types of reverses that show Mt. Argaeus. You have the ones where a statue is on a mountain, ones where an agalma of the mountain is on an altar, ones where the agalma is not on an altar, and other variations. Which begs the question - what was the cult icon actually like? Was there actually a colossal statue on the peak of the mountain? (probably not) Was there a relatively small, probably marble mountain sculpture with a probably bronze miniature figure on top, on an altar in the open? (possible) Was the above held within a temple? I wonder if there is any real scholarship on this topic.

That is a very neat left facing bust! Can't say I've seen one before.

Man, for 100 bucks why can't the pictures be in color! Especially for provincial bronzes, the color is one of the main draws for me at least.

Dumb question but how do you tell if it was struck by Domitius?