A follis of Heraclius - RY 24, Constantinople

[robinjojo]

Here's a coin that arrived recently, a Constans II follis with what seems to be authentic "sand" patina.  As far as I can determine, the regnal year on the reverse is 14, but I have been able to locate another coin of this type with that RY.  The "X" of the date is somewhat weak, but the outline seems pretty clear. 

Does anyone have another example?

Thanks

 Constans II, follis, Constantinople, RY 14, officina  Γ.

6.29 grams

Edited February 18 by robinjojo

[ela126]

This coin screams “clean me” to me, with easy looking dirt. Love the detail available. 

Can’t offer any help though.

nice coin!

[robinjojo]

3 hours ago, ela126 said:

This coin screams “clean me” to me, with easy looking dirt. Love the detail available. 

Can’t offer any help though.

nice coin!

Thanks.  I might, possibly cleaning the high points and trying to preserve the patina in the fields?

[ela126]

6 hours ago, robinjojo said:

Thanks.  I might, possibly cleaning the high points and trying to preserve the patina in the fields?

Ya that’s a decent thought, if you don’t like it clean it all

[Zimm]

That’s a wonderful example, though sadly I think it’s Heraclius as opposed to Constans II. It’s actually from the 24th regnal year instead of the 14th, the first X being partially off-flan. If you look closely above the M, you can see a cross above a C, which is only seen on Heraclius’ coinage (on Constans II’s it’d be a K). The high weight and fineish style also hint at Heraclius. After the weight decrease in the 22nd regnal year the type began suffering from poor strike quality, making your example definitely belong to the better end of examples.

[robinjojo]

15 hours ago, Zimm said:

That’s a wonderful example, though sadly I think it’s Heraclius as opposed to Constans II. It’s actually from the 24th regnal year instead of the 14th, the first X being partially off-flan. If you look closely above the M, you can see a cross above a C, which is only seen on Heraclius’ coinage (on Constans II’s it’d be a K). The high weight and fineish style also hint at Heraclius. After the weight decrease in the 22nd regnal year the type began suffering from poor strike quality, making your example definitely belong to the better end of examples.

Thank you!  I often confuse Heraclius with Constans II, based on the portraiture, alone and not really looking at other details.  I suspected that the year is 24 and not 14, but I couldn't make out the top "X" until you pointed it out.  

As for the cleaning, I took a very cautious approach.  Examining the coin, I concluded that the surfaces below the "sand" patina are dark and rough, especially on the obverse.  So I simply put the coin in a distilled water bath for about 30 minutes and, using a toothpick, gently removed some of the loose deposits.  That was followed with a brushing with a cotton swab.

So, the results are slightly better, but most of the sand patina is still intact.

Heraclius, follis, Constantinople, RY 24, officina  Γ.

MIB 164b

6.29 grams

[Valentinian]

Here is a Heraclius, Sear 810, which is similar to the first coin in this thread:



30-26 mm. 8.37 grams.
Year 21 (maybe 22) officina A
Bought in 1984.