hotwheelsearl

Here's my Commodus from start to finish. Some sodium hydroxide got us to picture 2.

Lots of sodium thiosulfate got us to picture 3.

7 hours ago, Heliodromus said:

I've never really understood the silver denominations of this time period either, with so many co-existing denominations (light siliqua, siliqua, miliarense, heavy miliarense during Constantine's time). The siliqua and miliarense seem to have been plentiful and part of regular coinage, while the heavy miliarense at least seems to have been an unusual denomination (perhaps only issued for donatives?).

I'm not sure what the best sources are for monetary values. From my notes I have Diocletian's original argenteus tariffed at 1/24 of his 1/60lb aureus, and then a bit later when Constantine I began issuing regular silver coinage c.320 AD his renamed "siliqua", at same 1/96lb weight as the argenteus was then only worth 1/24 of his 1/72lb solidus, but then we also had the higher valued miliarense at 1/72lb (same weight as the solidus).

Maybe the siliqua and miliarense served different purposes, since it doesn't seem to make much sense in terms of a single transaction why it would be useful to have two coins of fairly similar value. Do we even know whether silver coinage at this time routinely traded at face value, or just by weight?

The silver coin weights had dropped a bit by Valens time, but whatever rationale supported multiple denominations during Constantine's time may well have been the same during this later period too.

 

“since it doesn't seem to make much sense in terms of a single transaction why it would be useful to have two coins of fairly similar value.”

sort of reminds me of the train wreck of the silver 20 cent piece that looked pretty much the same as the circulating 25 cent piece back in the day.

Please just soak it in sodium thiosulfate. It will look much better

1 hour ago, ominus1 said:

..ironically i don't have any paduans....yet! :D...i think they're kool pieces in their own right! ^^...BUt i do have these 2 beauties.. they are high ranking coins in my collection 

What are these? Museum replicas?

Victorinus is always a crowd (un)favorite.

I have this thread over on CT, thought I'd start one here.

Please show off the absolute worst, dog-awful flans you have. The worse the better, and especially for those periods when flans tended to be "alright."

First post is this absolutely wonky Gallienus. He's got some weird flans, but they're typically relatively okay. This one really missed the "uniformity" memo.

Dang, once Probus gets something interesting on the shield the price goes WAY up... Saw one on a recent Roma auction that sold for $500, I think.

Like the infamous "Maine Penny," somehow the media always jumps to the conspiracies - presence of ancient coins out of place obviously indicates a heretofore-unknown travel of ancient peoples.

Or, traders brought it, someone had it as a collectible and lost it... etc.

Amazing! Can’t believe the legend goes the OTHER direction. Neat! Thank you as always 

Well, this AE17 has basically a full legend, but I somehow can't make heads or tails of it. I'm usually pretty okay at coin Greek, but this is kicking my butt.

Obv/Rev: KAHTON---N

Rev/Obv: MHN-ΘεANIΩ

I'm guessing one side is a "youthful head of the Senate" and the other side is head of Apollo, but I can't even tell which is which, of if I'm even correct.

An RPC search with MHN turned up about a thousand results, so barring spending the rest of the evening scrolling... pls halp 😕

Alice is out. Omar is filling in. He can process any payments via email or phone with a credit card number. Their payment system busted for me last time. I trust them with my card info

I tend to do Gallienus, because cheap and interesting.

Lots of reverse types, lots of mints, and lots of different compositions, ranging from good silver to bronze, to silvered to plated to billon. Lots of fun

I like seeing how differently the portrait is depicted too, such as this funky nose here:

Roma recently upped their shipping dramatically. Used to be 21.50, now it’s  30.00 (GBP). Absolutely no excuse other than simple profit-whoring.

1 hour ago, Nerosmyfavorite68 said:

Yikes!  Sounds dangerous.

Per DimitriosL's coin, I remember coming across a LOT of Gordian III era ants with rust while going through HJB pick bins in the 1990s.  However, these had more pronounced rust.  There was no doubt with these.

Per an earlier question, should I stay away from uncleaned Parthian silver with mint green highlighting? Will it damage silver to leave it that way?

Depends on what exactly the green is. If its verdigris, it's generally stable and can be left alone. Verdigris is typically a darker green.

Mint green, if flaky/chalky, is bronze disease and should be avoided at all costs. That is unusual for silver coins though, unless a fourree on a core of bronze, or a really awful low silver content billon with more bronze than silver.

3 hours ago, expat said:

Is there a generally accepted dilution for sodiumhydroxide as a test or starting point for bronze-copper coins?

When you start coughing and your hand burns you know you’re there 

1 hour ago, DimitriosL said:

Im positive it's rust, also you are right about Philip. So pretty much same process as cleaning horn silver?

I would imagine so, thiosulfate works wonders on rust on non-silver coins, so I would think it would work on silver coins.

1 hour ago, DimitriosL said:

I saw it in person. It's more like an transparent hue and you can see silver beneath so in guessing some kind of rust residue.

Are you sure the silver layer is not on top? You can often have silvered coins that look like there's rust, but it's just the surface layer wearing away. To be fair, Philip I tended not to mint silvered coins, so you may be right after all.

If it's truly a layer of oxidized rust, then sodium thiosulfate will get rid of it, pronto.

1 hour ago, DimitriosL said:

I also bought this coin for a friend in a previous auction for a low price. I love the portrait but I would prefer if the rust(?) was gone. Does anyone know if this is possible, to remove colouring like that?

This almost looks like the silver has worn away exposing a copper core.

A lot of practice helps you determine what kind of encrustation you have, and how to remove it. I'm a big proponent of chemicals.

In general:

brown/flaky/dirt colored on bronze - use sodium hydroxide
red/orange/rust colored on bronze - use sodium thiosulfate
blue/green on bronze - use acetic acid (vinegar)
black on silver - use sodium thiosulfate

Vinegar is usually a last resort, as it will almost certainly strip patina. however, if the coin is already overcleaned to begin with, then sometimes it's your last option. Depending on the composition of the coin, ie bronze vs copper vs brass vs orichalcum, vinegar may or may not be a great option, though. For example, vinegar was what brought a sestertius of Trajan back to life.

Silver is pretty resistant to most of patina-stripping compounds, iff its quite pure silver. I still tend not to subject silver to vinegar since it will dissolve it away pretty quick. One of the simplest, and most dramatic methods of cleaning silver is simple sodium thiosulfate. This tends to leave the patina mostly alone, while removing all of the black horn silver. 

It's all very conditional, and pics are always helpful to try to figure out a game plan. 

As for tools - I only use a dental pick for the most part. The way I see it, if a gauntlet of chemicals and incredibly high point-based pressure from a pick doesn't do the trick, nothing will.

Also, I sometimes use Jax Patina Restorer and Renaissance Wax. Jax is good if you've stripped a coin to bare metal; sometimes you end up with coin that looks almost pink!

Depending on the surface you end up with, Renaissance Wax is good to even out micro-pitting and even out the color. However, it gives a rather glossy finish that some collectors don't like. You can counter this by treating with Ren Wax, letting it sit overnight, and then dunking it in some mineral spirits. This will remove some, but not all, of the Ren Wax.

That's all I got for now

I'm pretty experienced, ask away

6 hours ago, Roman Collector said:

That's cool! It is an ex-Roma coin, I see.

Sure was, I think I paid way too much but it was super cool...

I'm not too sure. The reverse is a river god reclining, from Philippopolis.

Check this out, a very unusual exergue filled with 3 children playing.

this past looks like a kid playing with a hoop of some sort. How cool

Here's an interesting example that was incredibly overcleaned, but it shows, in great and interesting detail, the underlying copper and the surface brass-y composition.

Several months ago, I bought this siliqua of Constantius II. It came relatively white, with some standard blackish toning.

Flash forward a few months, after leaving it on my desk the whole time...

Now I've got this lovely blue and gold edge toning. Wow, I did not think that 1,600 year old coins would tone in 4 months, but here we are. Stupendous!