Which Of These Does Not Belong . Or . Any Color You Like ?

Well, the Nero and Lucius Verus sestertii have appealing deep olive green coloring. The others come across as bland gray. I would have guessed the others were photo'ed in B/W, but I see that the second (Pupienus?) has a spot of warmer tan on the beard, indicating that it is, indeed, a color photo.

Edit: I also now see a spot of green verdigris on the third.

As usual Mssr Bob L seems to be our only 'player' today
Now please examine this fine quality color photograph of a reverse of Titus from the same source
The scars left by BD are quite unmistakable aren't they ?
Yet in this case
unlike any I have encountered before !



In the interests of time I will simply declare Bob L todays winner
Nero simply does not belong with the rest

Antoninus Pius
Pupienus
Otacilia Severa
Allectus
Constantius I
Constantine I
and the Mercedes Benz 1967 230 SL
all share the same 'patination' as the auction house euphemistically refers too it

You like your bronzes with one coat of enamel or two ?
Or perhaps a nice two toned antique look ?
Having encountered the work of this artiste before I know one thing for certain
Some folks with very deep pockets are being taken for a ride
Nice day to take the Mercedes out

Eh ?

Don't disappoint me Bob L
There is "treated" ie exposure to vapors or even so-called copper coin darkeners (solutions with sulphur)

Layers of grey enamel spray painted on an ancient bronze is out and out fraud
How do I know ?
I purchased a group lot from same source back in April
Everything looked kosher when I examined them around 6PM when I arrived home
As is my habit
I placed two in acetone for the overnight bath
By the rays of the morning light I was horrified
The acetone did not remove the enamel but cleaned the 'dirt' that had been added over these freshly painted 'beauties'
Despite the auction terms of "as is all sales final and no returns !"
The seller agreeably took them back and refunded approx 1700 CHF
I decided to not make noise
I had intended to spend liberally at this current auction but was fortunately distracted by another last week
Upon re-examining the current offerings I realized I had seen this all before
And yes
The group lot I returned is being offered again
The word 'repatinated' added to the discription

ENAMEL PAINT is not to be considered "repatinated" under any circumstances !!!!

At best I can only determine that they appear to be from a single consigner
The quality of the 'craftsman' seems to vary quite a bit from impressive to downright miserable
Look closer at the Lucius Verus

We have patina that has come away leaving a corroded surface beneath
Our artist has painted a two tone fake enamel patina over both the original patina and the corroded areas
With ancient bronze you can have corrosion and patination
But patinated corrosion ?

Now look at Nero
I bought it last year (same source)
Nice patina
But is it real ?
If I stripped it down to bare metal would I find Bondo underneath filling in some holes ?
I'm not so sure anymore
I paid more than a few pesos for this bronze

I am not amused

Thank you for posting. I learned much in this thread.

An Augustus coin treated for BD - darkened the coin but the corroded areas were visibly not the same tone.