I gambled on this Augustus bull denarius from ebay!

[JayAg47]

Seller's photo

 

 

My photo after I did some cleaning, couldn't be more happier!

Not only it's my bucket list coin, but also got it for a fraction of what it costs.

 

Augustus
AR Denarius (3.32 gm), Lugdunum mint.
circa 15-13 BC.
Obv.: AVGVSTVS DIVI•F, bare headright with chopmarks.
Rev.: IMP•X Bull butting to right.

Disclaimer: I'm not encouraging novice collectors to go shopping for ancient coins on eBay. You need to know what you are looking for, which only comes from years in this hobby to tell a coin if it looks 'right' or not. 

Edited May 25, 2023 by JayAg47

[seth77]

This is my favorite type of post, with cheap gems that were either misattributed, misdescribed or/and with bad dealer photos and that turn out to be totally stellar, even if not UNC FDC.

[John Conduitt]

That's pretty amazing. What did you clean it with?

[JayAg47]

24 minutes ago, John Conduitt said:

That's pretty amazing. What did you clean it with?

Sodium thiosulfate bath followed by picking the layers with tooth pick and polishing with baking soda.

Edited May 25, 2023 by JayAg47

[John Conduitt]

4 minutes ago, JayAg47 said:

Sodium thiosulfate bath followed by picking the layers with tooth pick and polishing with baking soda.

It certainly did the job. Do you always use sodium thiosulfate for silver?

[JayAg47]

10 minutes ago, John Conduitt said:

It certainly did the job. Do you always use sodium thiosulfate for silver?

Only if I can see clear flaky layers like it had on this coin. 

[Ancient Coin Hunter]

Nice pick up and excellent cleaning job. The coin is the cat's meow.

[Marsyas Mike]

Marvelous coin, and great restoration work. I want one!  

[ominus1]

...well that move paid off in dividends!....congrats...

[Qcumbor]

Excellent job on a very decent coin (which was not obvious from the seller's pics)

Well done
Q

[AETHER]

Couldn't have turned out better. So was it mainly horn silver?

[JayAg47]

1 hour ago, AETHER said:

Couldn't have turned out better. So was it mainly horn silver?

The initial weight was around 3.5 grams, so nearly 0.2g worth of crud!

Edited May 25, 2023 by JayAg47

[Octavius]

 This is a great example of terrific restoration! Well done.

[JeandAcre]

@JayAg47, I'm amazed by the mere fact that you could see the potential from the dealer's pics.  As far as your expertise in the cleaning, nope, you're blowing me out of the water. 

I mostly hang out in the middle ages, but can't not like Julio-Claudian stuff.  I have exactly one provincial AE of Augustus.  By contrast, even for one representative example, this would be a fantastic 'bucket list' coin.  --As cleaned, thank you; I'd never have spotted it from the initial listing, like you did.  Hearty congratulations on an aggregately brilliant coup.

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

It looks like the gamble paid off.  You did a fantastic job to rescue the coin.

[Limes]

Fantastic job cleaning the coin. And you have a great eye for spotting this one, and seeing its.potential, even though it was a gamble. It paid off for sure! 

[hotwheelsearl]

On 5/25/2023 at 9:15 AM, John Conduitt said:

It certainly did the job. Do you always use sodium thiosulfate for silver?

If there are black or red deposits on silver then thiosulfate will almost always work.