Starting with a photography experiment

[Helvius Pertinax]

Thanks to the person who invited me over here! I see a lot of familiar names from the forum I was never able to join since my account got banned immediately after I created it 🤔

Thanks to everyone for the interesting posts, I learned a lot from you all!

Now, as some of those more close to me may know, I have an internship in my citys archive for two weeks. Always wanting to experiment, I asked for permission to use an old document as photography background. The results turned out quite nice in my opinion, the pictures have this nice golden glow to them. Here are my three favourites!

[maridvnvm]

Does the golden hue reflect the colouration of the coins or just an artefact of the lighting and/or colour balance? 

[Helvius Pertinax]

This is due to the lighting, although the coins do have a golden toning.

[maridvnvm]

Golden toned silver can be very attractive even when it is a Gorgoneion being depicted.

 

[Alegandron]

6 minutes ago, maridvnvm said:

Golden toned silver can be very attractive even when it is a Gorgoneion being depicted.

 

Wow, very cool contrast with that toning!

[Helvius Pertinax]

27 minutes ago, maridvnvm said:

Golden toned silver can be very attractive even when it is a Gorgoneion being depicted.

 

Wow, that toning looks superb 😮 Also, is that Pescennius Niger in your profile? Or Septimius? The hand above the picture makes it hardly visible for me, at least on mobile.

[Zimm]

Those are really nice pictures, even more so with the background.

I personally only have one coin with golden toning, this antoninianus of Gallienus. It's not a special coin by any means, but the toning makes it look pretty nice in my opinion.

 

[Helvius Pertinax]

Just now, Zimm said:

Those are really nice pictures, even more so with the background.

I personally only have one coin with golden toning, this antoninianus of Gallienus. It's not a special coin by any means, but the toning makes it look pretty nice in my opinion.

 

Great neckbeard, and I that full silvering? A nice coin, especially with that toning! I have a Gallienus too, but the silvering has worn off a bit. It was a gift from an American collector, I like the style of the bust.

[CPK]

@Helvius Pertinax Nice photos! I like the experimentation. 🙂
 

I've often thought what would be really cool would be to somehow photograph the coins within a realistic, historically accurate "reenactment" scene - complete with other props and even costumes - say, a merchant's table within the Roman Forum, or a centurion's tent in the cold, damp frontier of Britannia, or maybe in the palace of the Emperor or during the Games at the Colosseum. Photographing the coins in their natural habitat as it were, putting them back into their historical settings.

[Helvius Pertinax]

33 minutes ago, CPK said:

@Helvius Pertinax Nice photos! I like the experimentation. 🙂
 

I've often thought what would be really cool would be to somehow photograph the coins within a realistic, historically accurate "reenactment" scene - complete with other props and even costumes - say, a merchant's table within the Roman Forum, or a centurion's tent in the cold, damp frontier of Britannia, or maybe in the palace of the Emperor or during the Games at the Colosseum. Photographing the coins in their natural habitat as it were, putting them back into their historical settings.

Yes, maybe visiting the Colloseum and taking a picture with the Titus elephant denarius struck to commemorate its opening... that would be awesome! 

[AncientNumis]

@Helvius PertinaxThat looks really cool! I love the background, it adds a lot to  the photo and makes it seem even more interesting! Love the coins too - seen them before of course but every time I see them I appreciate them more, your collection is super nice in terms of fun quality pieces, lots more than mine 😅
Haha @maridvnvmyeah in some photos they look practically like they're made of gold - we sometimes joke about them being darics or aurei!
🤣

 

Edited May 26, 2022 by AncientNumis

[CPK]

16 minutes ago, Helvius Pertinax said:

Yes, maybe visiting the Colloseum and taking a picture with the Titus elephant denarius struck to commemorate its opening... that would be awesome! 

Or a Domitian rhino quadrans!

Of course the challenge would be to get a good, reasonably close-up shot of the coin while at the same time capturing enough of the background scene to make it meaningful. 

[Helvius Pertinax]

Just now, CPK said:

Or a Domitian rhino quadrans!

Of course the challenge would be to get a good, reasonably close-up shot of the coin while at the same time capturing enough of the background scene to make it meaningful. 

Yes, that does seem quite challenging. It would need some practice before, so you don't have to stand in front of the Collosseum for ages, fiddling around with your camera equipment while thousands of tourists try to walk by 😂

[AncientNumis]

I actually took a pic of a budget Commodus sestertius of mine at the colosseum! I'll try to find it and send here 🙂

[CPK]

2 minutes ago, Helvius Pertinax said:

Yes, that does seem quite challenging. It would need some practice before, so you don't have to stand in front of the Collosseum for ages, fiddling around with your camera equipment while thousands of tourists try to walk by 😂

Yeah for sure, it's bad enough here at home sometimes with toddlers clumsily bumping into my delicately poised photography setups. 😄

Edited May 26, 2022 by CPK

[CPK]

Just now, AncientNumis said:

I actually took a pic of a budget Commodus sestertius of mine at the colosseum! I'll try to find it and send here 🙂

Cool! Would love to see that!

[AncientNumis]

Also did some other photos of coins in their surroundings, like a Hadrian hemidrachm in his villa in Tivoli! Was very fun to hold the coins at the same time as being there - and appreciating how Hadrian lived there thousands of years ago - and one of his coins I own is in my pocket or touching the stone!!!

 

[Helvius Pertinax]

4 minutes ago, AncientNumis said:

@Helvius PertinaxThat looks really cool! I love the background, it adds a lot to  the photo and makes it seem even more interesting! Love the coins too - seen them before of course but every time I see them I appreciate them more, your collection is super nice in terms of fun quality pieces, lots more than mine 😅
Haha @maridvnvmyeah in some photos they look practically like they're made of gold - we sometimes joke about them being darics or aurei!
🤣

 

Thank you, I'm also a big fan of that background! There were many fancy documents there, but I went with a more simple handwriting, from the 1830s. Here is a more fancy document, just so, you see what I mean:

 

[AncientNumis]

Here ya go! Not perfect - and it's taken with a phone so it's portrait - but I love it 😁
Got it as my lock screen on my phone, the home screen is a pic I took of a statue in the Capitoline museum I saw in the same visit.
This is all reminding me how much I love Rome  :))

[Helvius Pertinax]

Just now, AncientNumis said:

Here ya go! Not perfect - and it's taken with a phone so it's portrait - but I love it 😁
Got it as my lock screen on my phone, the home screen is a pic I took of a statue in the Capitoline museum I saw in the same visit.
This is all reminding me how much I love Rome  :))

Oh wow, thats amazing! So cool to hold this millenia old artifact and know that the person on it was in the same building, thousands of years ago - isn't it? Must be!

[AncientNumis]

Yesss! 
Ok, I think I'm clogging up this thread as it's getting slightly off topic, but I'm gonna start a post later if any of you want to see some more pics I took, might be fun. 🙂

[CPK]

4 minutes ago, AncientNumis said:

Here ya go! Not perfect - and it's taken with a phone so it's portrait - but I love it 😁
Got it as my lock screen on my phone, the home screen is a pic I took of a statue in the Capitoline museum I saw in the same visit.
This is all reminding me how much I love Rome  :))

That is so cool!

Didn't the emperor Commodus actually fight in the arena as a gladiator himself at times? 

[AncientNumis]

Yep, which is quite fascinating! That's why I chose to bring him - when most people think of an emperor linked to the Colosseum, they think of Commodus.

Edited May 26, 2022 by AncientNumis

[maridvnvm]

Of course a coin doesn't have to be silver to develop golden toning. It can happen with silvered coinage too though I am not sure the effect is quite as attractive on partially silvered coins like the one below where you get a mix of golden toned silvering and darker bronze showing though where the silvering has worn away.

Constantius II - Æ Centenionalis

Obv:- D N CONSTANTIVS P F AVG, pearl diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right
Rev:- FEL TEMP R-EPARATIO, Helmeted soldier left, shield on left arm, spearing falling horseman; shield at ground to right. Horseman turns to face the soldier, and reaches his left arm up towards him. He is bare headed and bearded
Minted in Constantinople (G | _ // CONSIA*).
References:- RIC VIII Constantinople 82 (Rare reverse legend break)

4.91g. 23.68 mm. 180 degrees

[maridvnvm]

Sometimes it does make an interesting contrast as on this Constantine the Great Ae3.

Obv:– IMP CONSTANTINVS PF AVG, Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right
Rev:– SOLI IN -VI-CTO COMITI, Sol standing left holding globe in left and raising right, chlamys across left shoulder
Minted in Rome (S | F //RP).
Reference:– RIC VII Rome 33 (C3).

Large flan. Residual golden toned silvering in the fields.

3.49 gms. 21.79 mm generally but 23.55 mm at the sprue