hotwheelsearl

I agree. SMAQS - probably mint secunda in Aquileia

This Salonina really captures some of her personality, whatever that may have been.

I think this portrait of Licinius is the most veristic and individualistic I have. Lucy isn't just Emperor X, he looks like a specific guy, weird Uncle Steve who always has a beer in one hand at gatherings, or something.

I always thought it interesting that the breakaway Gallic empire somehow hired the most talented celators for their coinage; I find that often times Gallic coins of this era are much higher quality than portraits from back in Rome.

Here's a really high quality portrait on Claudius, complete with barbarian mustache. I sold this for $7. I regret it every day.

Found this in a lot of 1000 uncleaned. This looked bronze at first until I cleaned it. I also found this Leo I in another giant lot.

A common lyre in uncommon condition

I have a few methods. Sodium hydroxide will destroy green and blue patina. If the coin is already brown, you're good to go. Sodium thiosulfate is a silver miracle. It does not damage the silver or the patina, but will remove any iron oxides or other encrustatinons.

Somehow coins I own that are of superior quality fail to sell at $20 on eBay. I guess I need to change my ebay username to "Roman Antiquities Stop" or something.

I think this one is pretty spectacular.

I don't have too many of these. Here's a somewhat unusual silvered one.

This Carausius has a little bit of silvering, especially on the reverse. I need a better pic.

My favorite Valerian reverse is this one, showing both Valerian and Gallienus clasping hands. How neat!

Here's a very long obverse on Gallienus. IMP CP LIC GALLIENVS PF AVG

Love the galley. A great imitation of Arles. Somehow the imitator just didn't understand the concept of a standard. Instead of one pole with a flag, you get two "chains" and a basic representation of something on it. I wonder if the celator was provided a real poor example of an official issue. The emperor's drapery on official issues hangs down on the right field side, so it could be that the engraver mistook the drapery for a second staff of the standard. And this one which almost looks fake, from Cyzicus. I like how the galley guy either holds a Nike, or a Phoenix. Curiously, the phoenix is exactly the same as the ones you find on the AE18 FEL TEMP phoenix-on-mound coins. And the details on the galley itself can either be astounding, or just completely garbled.

I love the patina on this one. Nice reverse, especially.

Fun thread. Here's the famous Fish-inius I: Our man's also known as a Meathead around these parts, with more neck than head.

I've found that typically coins with two letters (LZ, LA, etc) tend to be Alexandrian. I couldn't find this particular one anywhere, but our boy @shanxi was a super hero! I was really not expecting Domitian.

Volusians of Antioch have some of the most garbled Latin legends I've ever seen. This one is something like CALVSSIANO

I have this coin of...somebody (Claudius? Tiberius? I was unsuccessful in my search - can't be that hard, how many coins have L-Z with an Apis bull? It's 22mm (probably a diobol) if you feel like taking a crack) that was in rough shape when I got it. Much of the patina was lost, splotchy, and otherwise muted and unappealing. So I slathered some Ren Wax on it, and lo and behold... it changed the color somewhat. Didn't reveal a whole lot of additional detail, but this seems to be a common thing with Rex Wax - it "hydrates" (for lack of better words, I know there's no water in the compound) the "dry" parts of the coin, sort of like how wood looks like after some Old English. The coin is still splotchy and unappealing, but now it looks a bit more normal, I think.

Gallienus love thread! Here's my rarest!

My smallest campgate, at 12mm, of Arcadius: My best campgate, with nearly full silvering:

Thanks for the knowledge!

Thanks, it definitely has active BD with powdery green that comes right off with a fingernail. The darker green appears to be inert malachite. In the past I've been able to have quick results with some concentrated NaOH, but I like the malachite! I'm just sticking with some distilled for now, and see how it works out. Maybe I should just sacrifice this to the sodium sesquicarbonate gods...

You found it! Amazing. I couldn't find one on Wildwinds with the LH in right field. I've never been good at using acsearch.