ValiantKnight

Did the “alien bodies” happen to have crystal skulls inside them?

Just here. Used to at CT but I have strong disagreements with the positions that site (and many people there) supports, so I don’t participate there anymore. Though I still from time-to-time advertise on CT the coins I’m selling because their money is still good 😁.

I also used to post at CoinCommunity but the website is still stuck in 2004 with its site layout, and there isn’t as much in the way of good discussions like there are here (just seems mostly like ID requests and sharing new coins), as well as most of the people I know being here on NF. Also, the max image size that’s allowed is only 300 kb, so there’s that too.

R/ancient coins on Reddit I very occasionally check out (typically only if it comes up in my search results when I’m researching a new coin) but I have never posted in, because I’m protective of my Reddit profile and any coins I post there under that profile (that I happen to use for other, non-coin related subreddits) could be linked to me if I also post them here on NF (or elsewhere). I’m thinking of making an alternate account there just for posting my coins, though.

FB, Instagram, and the like I don’t use.

I don’t get coins sent via FedEx too often, but I get anxiety whenever it happens. At best, I’d say only about half of the packages I’ve gotten from have arrived no problem. The other half of the time, they deliver to the correct house number but on a different street. That’s what happened to a coin last week; a whole week and six hours late, then misdelivered. Fortunately, I had no issues getting the coin back (and of course the coin also happens to be a dream coin that FedEx put at risk of theft/loss). Not to mention they tend to prop and position the package up in a way that makes it very obvious to potential thieves walking/driving by. I almost never have these problems with USPS, UPS, or DHL (knock on wood). FedEx even once lost a Justinian Carthage-mint large follis I really wanted; I’m still salty about that one. And, yes, I have made sure my mailing address is correct beforehand. 

Somehow, they almost always correctly deliver my cat’s food and litter box sand (only once misdelivered in over two years). So I’m sure my cat is cool with FedEx, at least.

Do you happen to have a problem carrier(s)? Any frustrating stories dealing with them?

Call me cold, but whether friend or stranger, makes no difference to me if I  want a coin. I’ll still give it my all. I only know of one instance where I won a coin another member (but not someone that was a friend) had been after; they posted something about having bid on the coin in question. 

John VIII Palaiologos, Byzantine Empire
AR stavraton
Obv: IC-XC, Facing bust of Christ, surrounded by eight dots
Rev: IWANHC DECPOTIC O PALEOLOGOC QV XAPITI AVTOKPATOP in two lines around nimbate facing bust of the emperor, dot to left and right
Mint: Constantinople
Date: 1425-1448
Ref: SB 2563
Size: 6.66 gr.



John VIII Palaiologos, Byzantine Empire
AR half-stavraton
Obv: IC-XC, Facing bust of Christ
Rev: IWANHC DECPOTIC Q PALEOLOGOC, nimbate facing bust of the emperor
Mint: Constantinople
Date: 1425-1448
Ref: SB 2565
Size: 3.3 gr.

2 hours ago, ela126 said:

John VIII Starvaton - 6.71g

As Warren mentioned, strike is commonly poor. But a good chunk of silver. Almost identical in size to the Hexagrams 800 years earlier.

Your stavraton looks like a die match to mine.

Maybe an unpopular opinion but I don’t think the repair job in the OP looks bad, decent at best. Could be better concealed if the coin was artificially toned better. That said, I’d rather have it with the crack; more authentic that way.

Ok so I’ll admit curiosity got the better of me and I ended up buying sodium thiosulphate and gave the coin a very hot bath of it. Left it in for some time, took it out, picked at it, and it seems promising. A few small areas of the horn silver on the obverse (neck area), not much, I was able to remove, and the silver surface that was uncovered looks good, no signs of pitting. Negligible progress on the reverse, but I chalk that up due to the coin being obverse side up (the side I’m most interested in). Since it’s an extensive case of horn silver I’m going to continue giving it the baths, and I’ll post the denarius once I feel that I’m done and I’m satisfied with the results.

Thanks for all the helpful posts, really appreciate it and glad to have confirmation on what it is (well, glad in knowing what it is, not that its horn silver lol). 
 

16 hours ago, Roerbakmix said:

Anhydrous sodium thiosulphate will do the trick. I suspect this coin will not improve though; this type of horn silver (thin layer, no clear demarcation) usually covers a putter surface.

I may decide to leave it for now, at least until I get an upgrade. I know next to nothing about sodium thiosulphate (I do know though that it comes in crystalline form), so are there any safety precautions I should take (apart from the obvious like not ingesting, not getting it in the eyes, etc.)? 
 

The normal gray silver/non-horn silver areas don’t have any major pitting, so could this be a positive sign that the surface under the horn silver also lacks pitting?
 

Also, by any chance might you have some before and after photos of similar coins to mine that you have treated? So I can get a further idea of how it could come out? 
 

Thanks for your help!

What was your cleaning method?

Hello all. I recently purchased a Nero denarius that to me looked partially uncleaned, thinking the dark areas were hardened junk I could remove. Well, after a few soaks in ammonia+water, as well as some soaks in lime juice, I've made little to no improvement on the coin. I looked at it a little closer and the bluish-dark grey areas I was trying to remove have some somewhat rough areas to it, and seems to be a layer on top of the original surface, as evidenced by the edges where it there is a clear line of where it ends and it looks "taller" than the normal grey silver surface on the edge. My guess now is that it is some form of horn silver. What do you think? Any recommendations to cleaning it or at least making the darker patches lighter? If I remember correctly, at least a couple of members here have had success in removing horn silver ( @Roerbakmix?)

Hadrian, Roman Empire
AE drachm
Obv: [AVT KAIC TΡAIAN AΔΡIANOC CEB], laureate head right, slight drapery on left shoulder
Rev: Isis Pharia sailing right, holding sistrum, the Pharos Lighthouse to right with three figures on its summit. L-I-[H] across fields
Mint: Alexandria
Date: 133-134 AD
Ref: Milne 1414; RPC 5895; Dattari 1767

I couldn’t help but think a bit about what @TIF is up to nowadays. Only 4 posts total on Numisforums but last seen last Friday, which makes me think she mostly just lurks (like me). I know she’s had a difficult last few years with the hurricanes and moving back to Texas, and I think even before we moved to NF she had to cut back on her participation on Cointalk because of the aforementioned issues. I wonder if she is doing okay and also if she is still collecting coins. 

Have goals/coin types you are looking for. Instead of just “ancients”, what kind? Roman, Greek, etc.? If Roman, what era or rulers? If Greek, what cities/dynasties? Perhaps review what you feel is missing from your collection and make goals from those. 

Sold openly as an imitation of the very rare Charlemagne imperial portrait denier type. It looks pretty close in style and is made of silver.

Charlemagne, Carolingian Empire
AR denier (modern imitation)
Obv: KAROLVS IMP AVG, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, M below
Rev: XPICTIANA RELIGIO:, temple façade
Mint: Mainz
Date minted: 812-814 AD (authentic examples)

The worst for me is when they melted down all those Republican aureii that they found around 300 years ago. 2nd worst is this story that I read about a farmer that found some extremely rare early Frankish solidii that he ended up melting down.

I wonder if the resemblance (beard, long hippie-style hair) of the emperors of this era to Jesus was intentional or just coincidental (perhaps just the popular style at the time)?

Back to our regularly scheduled programming, it seems.

Constantine IV, Byzantine Empire
AE half-follis
Obv: Crowned bust facing, holding spear
Rev: Crowned facing busts of Heraclius and Tiberius, X/X between, cross above, mintmark ROM in exergue
Mint: Rome
Ref: SB 1234
Date minted: 668-681 AD
 

Every time you read about the fall of the Western Roman Empire you hope that it ends differently with the empire making a comeback and kicking the barbarians out. 

I got this in my email today:

Definitely one to run away from:

On 4/25/2023 at 4:14 PM, DonnaML said:

"one rarely sees anything these days about Roman Republican hoards

Anytime I see a reference to Roman Republic coin hoards, for some reason I get reminded of the sad fate of the majority of the Brescello Hoard, a massive group of aureii found in 1714:

http://a-coins.blogspot.com/2018/09/the-brescello-hoard-largest-and-most.html?m=1

Wasn’t Flavius Victor still a child when he was murdered? I don’t care what century it is; it takes a very despicable, special kind of a**hole to strangle a child to death, even if its your enemy’s.

Also, I’ve been recently more interested in possibly obtaining a FV siliqua. What’s the typical price range of them?

15 minutes ago, Curtisimo said:

So what do you think? Is it poor NF etiquette to post a very late Top 10?

No harm in this so go for it. I can’t imagine anyone getting on your back about something as trivial as this. But if anyone does get upset over it, they should expect a Top 10 of 2011 post from me (the year that I first started collecting ancients) 😁.

A couple of them I’d be interested in, but I agree with Constantivs, they are pricey.

38 minutes ago, Curtisimo said:

I am a generalist collector but I do have sub-collections that I concentrate on with different levels of seriousness at different times.

This is essentially me as well. I am a generalist who goes for what catches my interest but I have my favored areas, namely late Roman, Byzantine, and Ptolemaic.

Respect to those that can and do collect just one particular emperor, city, dynasty, etc., but I would get bored of this relatively quickly. Too many other interesting rulers, places, and history to ignore.