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"

2 hours ago, Salomons Cat said:

My 2 egg toned coins still look like the same. Probably because they're in coin capsules. But I believe that it's not so relevant if they become darker or not, anyway. It is a lot more important that you create an even toning (and not a "spotty" one). If the toning is very even, then the coins will appear attractive even if the toning gets darker. 

To achieve that, I would not follow the standard advice from youtube for the egg toning. I have seen how they put coins inside a plastic container together with an egg. They even put some egg directly on coins. That looked horrible. Not only because this can only produce a spotty toning but also because eggs certainly contain some chloride that should not get into contact with silver coins.
I would start by cleaning the coin that you want to tone as well as possible with a cotton swab and with acetone. This removes oil and dirt from the surface that would disturb the toning. Then I would make a scrambled egg and let it cool until there is no visible steam anymore. Then you can put the coin in a kitchen strainer and hold it above the scrambled egg for 2 minutes. There will be a very even toning afterwards and the coin will still look good if it becomes a bit darker. 

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

8 hours ago, Salomons Cat said:

I wanted to find that out, too. Thats why I did some experiments with cleaning and toning on the obverse of 2 coins that I got cheap. I didn't have time to work on the reverses yet. The egg toning looks a bit special. Can be anything between light rainbow toning and deep blue.
I find it really hard to define what kind of toning is "natural" and what is "artificial" because egg toning uses the same chemical process as natural toning. But I'm quite sure that the coins that circulated 1800 years ago usually did not have a rainbow or blue toning. That's why I think that you could certainly call this toning artificial. Anyway; here are the results from my experiments.

Julia Mamaea, before cleaning (I mainly used ammonium thiosulfate):


Julia and Gordy after cleaning and egg toning:

But if a coin already has such a kind of toning I would not try to remove it. I believe that this would damage the surface, even if you cannot see it with bare eyes.

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.

6 minutes ago, DonnaML said:

What color is this "egg patina"?

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)

On 9/13/2023 at 6:17 PM, Phil Anthos said:

Hi D,

I actually got fired about 3 weeks before I retired, lol. My heart wasn't in it and my work definitely suffered so I don't blame them and I don't really care. More time with my dog and my collection!  🙂

I've found at least one numbering typo so far, but I'm liking the way it's going to this point. I'm a bit obsessive about accuracy so it's going slowly.

I'm going D'Andrea, Vlasto and then F-B, with others afterwards. I placed F-B 3rd because of it's limitations (short length of history, no fractions). But giving up on the Vlasto dating, while obviously necessary, was difficult for me. That's an old friend!

I have 13 done so far, so 90 more to go.

~ Peter 

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

On 10/30/2023 at 8:37 PM, DonnaML said:

All you have to do to find that out is ask the notorious "A" dealer (from the old Coin Talk "A to Z" thread) what he does to his silver coins to create his instantly recognizable artificial blue patina. As with my Hadrian Aegyptos denarius when it arrived:

Compared to how it looked after I removed the patina by soaking it in the distilled water & baking soda solution that Brad Bowlin suggested to me:

I will check to see if I have any "legitimate" blue patinas.

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

9 hours ago, Prieure de Sion said:

There are lots of publications - here is just one of them. Just have a look at academia or other similar sites.

https://www.sosyalarastirmalar.com/articles/identification-of-a-new-cult-in-cappadocia-zeus-argaios.pdf 

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?

Appears to be a relatively recent crack. I wonder if the digging up was what caused it. If so, there’s a whole other half of a Galba just waiting to be found…

I call this one the "hot lips" variety.

I always use old stamps to send coins. It’s fun and interesting. Plus, none of my stamp collection is worth more than face value, so might as well get my moneys worth out of them.

Here's my absolute favorite green coin.

Up close, the colors really pop - see my profile pic!

Outstanding examples, all! Mine is pretty awful with a tiny shrunken head portrait.

Sold this but kind of wish I kept it.

I am inspired by guys who buy $50 and under coins. I can’t afford 100k coins, and never will… but I can still find good deals and appreciate the lesser products!

Curious that the first cysicus one changed the placing of the branch, while kept the PTR?

Claudius also sometimes comes gaunt, and with a jawline that could cut steel.