ela126

this is a cool post and something i've been tracking a bit in my collection as well. You have some very cool locations, which i assume comes from your Austrialian home. My most "exotic" location i've purchase from is Tblisi, Georgia, of which i have a cool envelop with many local stamps covering. the coin isn't awesome but i keep it in my tray specifically because of the origin country.

dang, thats a nice one.

completely flawless, even green coins are questionable. but if you see variations in colors, dirt, etc. usually an ok sign of a real patina.

i's take that as a real patina, which was very fragile, stablized with Ren Wax or Paraliod (sp), but its so delicate, it can still flake apart. There are sever coins with tremendous green shades. i find the green patinas are usually the most fragile. I do repatina some of my bad condition coins, fake patina applications wear off at the dust level, you'd never have chips or flakes, just dust on your fingers. at least in my experiences.

Whew, those sound amazing! Yes, to me that sounds like an inheritance with no better idea than to get them on ebay. The joke of "sell them for what you told your wife you paid" situation. I also recently purchased the full 9 book set of DOC on ebay from a brother of a deceased collector. The price was so low Mike G. of CNG commented it was going for a song, seeing that, i took my opportunity to purchase it. Regarding the smoothing. As a coin cleaner (i've cleaned the 3 coins i posted in this post), encrustrations and other corrosions growths on otherwise good coins i think are ok to remove. I know this is a continuous discussion, but if its removing something unorginal to the coin, i think thats ok. As long as you're not using a polishing/grinding wheel in the field i think its ok.

ohh, is that a Nicephorus Basilicus?!

Another “gem” to me. Just bought for 33 shipped off eBay. Seller told me they’ve had it for 16 years. Wonderful coin as it is but it has so much potential to clean. Excited to share the finished product a few weeks from now. Justinian - Deca - Ravenna - sb 326

It went for 34 dollars, for 3 of them, plus the fake 33. It also mentioned they were Ex Roma.. im sure the winner is ecstatic, and may just resell them citing the Roma auctions, but it definitely is the low water mark price wise for these. thank you @rasiel for pointing out it’s the Zinc content which is damning.

There’s more opinions about buying off eBay than there is stars in the sky.. I will say though, being somewhat of a specialist in Byzantine, there are some very worthwhile coins to pop up from time to time, and I’m not just referring to those questionable pieces from the Cyprus guy who’s been selling like wildfire. as I’ve said before, collecting for me is about the hunt almost as much as it is about the coin. I do love my coins and look at them daily, but boy do I love looking at coins online (and coins posted here). In a span of 18 hours I managed to get, what I believe are 2 very rare pieces from Carthage. Both from Justin II’s reign, and both, to my understanding, 1 year issues. last nights purchase was this SB 397. What makes it special, beyond being a Deca from Carthage, is on the left of the reverse, the coin has PR for Primo! Year 1 ! What makes this one extra exciting is the price, 14 dollars (plus 10 shipping From Canada) while the coin is in decent shape, I hope to clean up a little on the right side of the reverse, overall a great coin. and maybe this next one outdoes it. I’ve been aware of this Carthage Piece for a while, seeing the decas and half follis often enough. I saw the worn obverse, and with a BIN of 75 (just listed), figured it was a well centered but worn half follis. Then I clicked on the picture… M!!! now, I do appreciate it’s a well worn example, but acsearch only comes up with 5-6 examples.. whew I’ll take it. Coin nicely had a 28-29mm measurement but no weight, which that diameter matches CNG examples, so I immediately purchased it. I hope to clean it up a little, although obviously understand nothing is improving for the details in the bust. All in all I’d say I’ve gotten 10 nice pieces at great prices on eBay over the last 3 years. Doesn’t sound like a high hit rate, but all the browsing has been enjoyable so I’ll keep my eyes peeled. please post any of your great eBay wins (or other auctions that flew under radar)

I’ve shared it before but this has to be my favorite patina in my collection. This was bought off eBay with a lot of little malachite growths. I worked them down and smoothed them while leaving the rest of the coin as it is. I kind of appreciate the expressionless face as well. It is by far the greenest green coin I have. Time of Heraclius (Sassanian occupation of Egypt 618-628) 12 nummi Alexandria Mint SB 855 6.74g

Barry has opennly said on the FB group he doesn't believe these are real and is sticking to his story. I know he's done some XRFs on them and i believe one of the metals included he said was never included in any production until the 19th century. i believe this is his main sticking point, along with the complete absence of gold. I looked past these 3 and focused on the unblievabley good 33 nummi also in this picture. curious to see where this lot lands, as i see people trying to sell these for 400-600 dollar each currently..

Ren Wax is magic, i cleaned coins for a few months before getting it, i thought other cleaners had mythical skill... instead it was just the wax

As you know, to a new collector, anything unslabbed is fake, and anything greenish is BD. i think there is a perception of BD being some hungry virus leaping at the chance to instantly ruin a collection. Maybe this is a case in areas with no client control and high ambient humidity, but in climate controlled settings, i havent ever seen seemingly active BD progress much, and it's easily remedied and removed.

i appreciate the Byzantine table. not a lot of love in that direction, you're a champion of that sector. if there is an ability to do it, i think breaking out the J2 reigns, will show 2nd reign falls a bit lower on the list than currently reflected. i find when sharing coins its important to highlight the difference.

3pm Friday afternoon mentality displayed on a coin.