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My First Uncleaned Coins, One Week Later. Thoughts?

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ZiggyZ's Avatar
United States
162 Posts
 Posted 03/21/2012  01:53 am Show Profile   Bookmark this topic Add ZiggyZ to your friends list Get a Link to this Message Number of Subscribers
I've been intrigued by ancient coins for years, way before I actually got back into collecting coin, in fact. I've been avoiding big coin purchases until I learn more, and this applies 10x to ancients, as there is just so much to learn before I will feel competent. So far I have read Sayles' first book, but that's it. I'm going to get his whole series, and I've done a bunch of research as to other books to read next. Last week at a local coin show, I bought my first ancients. My plan was to wait longer, but this dealer had a group of uncleaned coins at $1 each, so I figured why not. I search through the group and bought six, which he let me have for $5. Here they are:

My-First-Uncleaned-Coins,-One-Week-Later.--Thoughts?

My-First-Uncleaned-Coins,-One-Week-Later.--Thoughts?

The dealer freely admitted that this lot wasn't so good, which is why they were priced so low. I expected most of them to end up being trash, but I was hoping for at least one partially attributable coin, as a memento of my first ancients purchase. I've tried to read up on cleaning techniques, but for me this area has been more difficult than learning about the coins themselves - there is a lot of conflicting information out there. I decided to stick to the basics for my first attempt: distilled water, changed daily, with a toothbrush scrub when I changed the water. Here are the results after one week:

My-First-Uncleaned-Coins,-One-Week-Later.--Thoughts?

My-First-Uncleaned-Coins,-One-Week-Later.--Thoughts?

A couple notes on the pictures. First, I switch coins A and F in the second set. Second, everything appers lighter in the pictures than in real life.

I think three of the coins are definitely done. B and C seem to be complete culls. The patina is clearly flaking off B and there is no detail underneath, but there was no detail on the patina either. C and E seem like the patina was already off the coin, and maybe they were re-dirtied? This is just a guess. C is also completely void of identifiable details, but perhaps someone could tell me Something about E. The reverse seems to be two winged figures with a group of circled letters between them.

The other three seem like they may benefit from more cleaning, though being entirely inexperienced I don't know what to do next.

This is coin A:

My-First-Uncleaned-Coins,-One-Week-Later.--Thoughts?

My-First-Uncleaned-Coins,-One-Week-Later.--Thoughts?

Looks to me like there could be enough detail to ID this coins, but I am worried that the patina appears to be flaking off at the edges, and I'm concerned any further work will reduce it to a brown slug.

Coin F:

My-First-Uncleaned-Coins,-One-Week-Later.--Thoughts?

My-First-Uncleaned-Coins,-One-Week-Later.--Thoughts?

Also may have more detail underneath, but I suspect that much of the edge, and hence the legend has chipped off, which will make it very hard to ID.

Lastly, coin D:

My-First-Uncleaned-Coins,-One-Week-Later.--Thoughts?

My-First-Uncleaned-Coins,-One-Week-Later.--Thoughts?

May have the most detail remaining, but it is hidden under pretty heavy encrustations. I don't quite know how to proceed. Water doesn't seem enough for this coin, but I am not familiar enough with other techniques.
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sel_69l's Avatar
Australia
21788 Posts
 Posted 03/21/2012  07:30 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add sel_69l to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
At $5 for the lot, I would have bought them too, even if they are all currently unidentifiable.
Into the oilve oil, this time for a whole year!
At the end of this time, you MAY have something to identify.
If you get only one identifiable coin out of this, you have spent your money well.

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bobbyhelmet's Avatar
United Kingdom
2838 Posts
 Posted 03/21/2012  10:30 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add bobbyhelmet to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply

Quote:
I've been avoiding big coin purchases until I learn more, and this applies 10x to ancients


I too find this is the best way to work when buying in areas I don't know. Luckily very cheap ancients are not hard to find and essentially your paying for experience more than for the coins themselves when you start out.

I'll try to point you in the right direction for these coins - looking at them, even though the details are not great I would be surprised if we couldn't 100% ID at least one of them.

Coin A: "Victory advancing left" type. I also think I see a 'T' in left field?
My-First-Uncleaned-Coins,-One-Week-Later.--Thoughts?
Example of type only.


Coins B and C are probably too far gone to ID.

Coin D: Also a "Victory advancing left" type, I'm pretty sure I see 'OF' in left field and 'I' over 'dot' in right. The legend is SECVRITAS-REIPVBLICAE. I think this coin is Valens or Valentinian I. Guessing I would prob go for Valentinian I.
My-First-Uncleaned-Coins,-One-Week-Later.--Thoughts?
A very similar Valentinian coin but without the 'dot' under the 'I'.


Coin E: Shows two victories holding a large inscribed wreath. Inside the wreath it should say something like VOT-V-MVLT-X but I'm not 100% certain. The legend is VICTORIAE DD NN AVG ET CAE and this coin should belong to either Decentius or Magnentius. For some reason I have a nagging doubt I'm missing something with this coin, maybe another member can confirm or correct me?
My-First-Uncleaned-Coins,-One-Week-Later.--Thoughts?
A Magnentius example.


Coin F: Looks to be a GLORIA ROMANORVM "Emperor dragging captive" type. On yours the Emerors hand seems to be on the captives shoulder, not knowing these coins too well I'm not sure if this is important. Maybe a bit of Googling would answer that question. These were made for about 6 Emperors, when I saw your bust I thought Valens or Valentinian I/II but I'm by no means certain of that.
My-First-Uncleaned-Coins,-One-Week-Later.--Thoughts?
Example of type only.


With the above info and coins in hand you may be able confirm what I think is correct or not. Maybe then we can look a bit deeper.
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bobbyhelmet's Avatar
United Kingdom
2838 Posts
 Posted 03/21/2012  10:55 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add bobbyhelmet to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Forgot to add:

Coins D, E and F will probably clean a little more, the others are probably finished. Continue doing what your doing with distilled water or oilve oil and they could improve.

One other thing, does the mintmark on coin D look like it includes either 'CON' or 'LVGP'?
Edited by bobbyhelmet
03/21/2012 10:59 am
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echizento's Avatar
United States
23731 Posts
 Posted 03/21/2012  12:18 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add echizento to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Wow, Bobby good eyes I looked at these and while I saw some detail I couldn't make any positive ID's. For your first lot of ancients you have done very well, it took me almost ten years to find my first Magnentius in an uncleaned lot. After a long soak to remove they should clean up nicely. Congrats and welcome to ancient coin collecting.
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ZiggyZ's Avatar
United States
162 Posts
 Posted 03/21/2012  1:31 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add ZiggyZ to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Wow, that's way more info than I was expecting. Thanks!
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jessvc1's Avatar
United States
2596 Posts
 Posted 03/21/2012  6:38 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add jessvc1 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
These are the type of coins that if you can pull enough details out of them they will be even more special. However you plan to clean them there is enough crud left on these to where you should be able to attribute them have fun it's addicting
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