Captch

4 minutes ago, CPK said:

Do you live in an area of high humidity?

I live in western Oregon. It rains from October until May. It's not ever humid humid like summers growing up in the Midwest, but it is always wet outside of summer, if that makes sense. I live in a small apartment with no AC, so there's nowhere for warm wet air from cooking or showering to go - except to the temple of Roma!

Okay, time for a write-up.

I purchased my BD coin on February 16, 2023. This was the photo with the listing.

It's a pretty typical Maxentius bronze. I received it on February 22. I like to take my own photos. This photo shows it was last edited on February 24, so I took the picture and edited it right when I got the coin.

The keen-eyed among you might be able to spot the problem: The little speck of white between the columns to right of the Roma statue in the temple.

On April 12, when I made this post, I was futzing around with my coins and was horrified to see this on the reverse:

There is BD between each column on the right as well as between Roma's knee and foot. I picked out what I could with a steel dental pick and returned the coin to its tray for the time being. Two days later, my BD treatment had arrived, but the BD had come back. Here is how the coin looked on April 14th after being scraped clean on the 12th.

On the 14th, I prepared a 4-5% (by mass) solution of sodium sesquicarbonate. I again picked out the green bits with my dental pick and then put the coin in the cleaning solution. After a day, this was the result.

The spot of BD by Roma's leg seems to have been cleared up, that's bare metal. There are still spots in between the columns that I couldn't get my pick in. On April 20th, I was satisfied with the results and worried about damage to the rest of patina. I removed the coin from the solution and put it in a toaster oven at 150 degrees F for half an hour to dry it. Here are the results of the treatment on the obverse

and reverse.

Unfortunately it looks like some of the finer detail on the reverse lettering has been worn away, but I'm pleased with the result. The coin is definitely darker, but I also didn't light the coin the same way as the before pictures. I left the coin out in the kitchen as I made diner and did dishes yesterday - two things that I imagine make it pretty humid in there, and the coin looks fine this morning. I assume over the next few years it will repatinate. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with these initial results.

I just had my first case of bronze disease on a Maxentius follis. I've ordered sodium sesquicarbonate and picked out the green spots the best I could with a steel pick, but I just feel down. Does anyone have some bronze disease success stories they can share to cheer me up?

6 hours ago, Spaniard said:

Antioch

Tancred of Antioch

Copper Follis

1100-1103, 1105-1112

Obv.: Turbaned bust of Tancred facing ahead. Holding sword over right shoulder. Text above the bust reads KE BO TANKP (KYPIE BOHϴEI TANKPHΔΩ, God be helpful to Tancred).

Rev.: Pommeled crusader cross with IC-XC-NI-KA (IHΣOYΣ XPIΣTOΣ NIKATΩP, Jesus Christ, victor) in cantons.

c.f. Schlumberger Numismatique de l'Orient latin, pl. II #7

Heritage Auctions #232227, lot #61407

This is the second of the three known types of Tancred's coins. This type is subversive - it shows the crusading Tancred dressed in Arab garb. Local dress would have been worn by crusaders while on campaign or in day-to-day life, but depicting himself in local dress was a political move by Tancred to ingratiate himself with the locals. There was evidently some conservative pushback, however, as Tancred's later coins are images of Christ with the cross - nearly all of which are overstruck on this type.

12 hours ago, Nerosmyfavorite68 said:

I guess I'll just choose DHL Express for orders from LAC.  I have no idea how long this particular disaster has been going on.  My order was from March 4th.

My order from LAC from the week before yours arrived mid March. I opted for basic shipping.

Can I just say that I really appreciate the quality of the discussion here as opposed to the old forum. While there is definitely some disagreement in this thread about "the right thing to do" here, there is so much less willful ignorance and fewer bad-faith arguments compared to the threads on CT.

Here's my imitative: a two victories of Constantine but the obverse reads something like IIIII. I look forward to reading through the references and seeing if I can track down any more about my coin.

@Ryro that's quite the regal eagle on your third coin. @ambr0zie thanks for the links. I am very partial to the coins of Rhodes, so that's an awesome find.

43 minutes ago, Al Kowsky said:

My favorite Roman coin depicting an eagle is pictured below ☺️

Eagle coins don't normally speak to me because they're such a common motif. But this one is really nice. The details on the snake and legs are especially gorgeous.

@Hughie Dwyer, @ambr0zie It's always so funny to me how wildly inconsistent the late empire coins are. These coins were only made for about two years in Sisica, but we each have different combinations of mintmarks and characters after the mintmark. Surely there wasn't that much turnover in diemakers.

57 minutes ago, ambr0zie said:

In older times, people were able to hold a phoenix, for example Faustina I 

Once you're divine you can have all sorts of fun, I guess.

58 minutes ago, ambr0zie said:

it is my smallest coin in the collection, a hemitetartemorion, 5 mm and 0,08 g (!)

I want to say that's from Miletus, is that correct? I love these little coins - I can't imagine how they were at all useful. Your ostrich is really nice too.

I'm showing off a Constans nummus I won at auction last month. I just cracked its slab this morning and I'm so tickled with the quality of the reverse. I bid on the coin because I loved the phoenix on the reverse. The phoenix was a typical design for Fel Temp reverses, though some coins feature phoenixes standing on a globe rather tha a stack of rocks

What are your favorite bird coins?

RIC VIII Sisica 241

Draped, diademmed bust of Constans, facing right. DN CONSTANS PF AVG. Radiate phoenix atop a pyramid of rocks. FEL TEMP REPARATIO, Gamma officina, Sisica (SIS) mint, type 3 mint mark in exergue.

@Dafydd, since you beat me to it, here's my T. Carisius that I just got yesterday! It's a shame the obverse is half off the die 😛

Thanks @zadie

Is this the first coin with a (almost) three standards reverse? Or were they seen in previous times of strife? I want to know who to blame for my least favorite LRB reverse type...

8 hours ago, SteveJBrinkman said:

@Captch,Congratulations on your first RR acquisition.  When I look at auction listings I always go directly to the Roman Republican section first.  My first ancient coin was a denarius of L. Scribonius Libo purchased from Tom McKenna June 1, 1978.  I still have the coin and I'm still learning about RR denarii after all these years.

I like the Cataline connection that wikipedia posits inspired the reverse. 

On 3/8/2023 at 7:54 PM, DonnaML said:

Here's a post with several "virtual trays" showing all of mine as of a couple of months ago; maybe it'll give you some ideas of what's out there: 

I've been pushing to meet a deadline for work and haven't really kept up with this thread. That's a wonderful collection! I'm very jealous. I really like the serpent biga reverses.

I've been collecting for about six months now. I'm a grad student, so I usually go after Roman provincials or bronze Greek issues - that about fits my budget of ~$40/month. But the other day, I splurged on a RR denarius at auction and wow! I'm blown away by how shiny and wonderful it is 😍. It's so pretty ❤️

Once I graduate in a year or two, I know what I'm buying on the regular.

For the catalog number, this is Crawford 230/1. Helmeted head of Roma, facing right. Luna driving a two-horse biga with A.SPVRI beneath the leading hooves. ROMA in exergue. Minted 139 BCE under A. Spurilius.