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Pillar of the Community
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2563 Posts |
Thanks, how long?  Edited by CoinCollector2000
12/23/2013 10:57 pm
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Pillar of the Community
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3229 Posts |
Ski I will give Sempt Sev a net F
VK your Anastasius tremissis is real nice; EF w/ weak strike.
CC2000, nice coin with a lot of potential. VF uncleaned. I would start with a long distilled water soak followed by a much longer olive oil soak; tooth brush and a little tooth picking. Be patient and look up the plethora of threads here on CCF about cleaning ancients.
Vermontensium, nice details showing on your fallen horseman. From the pics it looks like it may have its patina stripped? Sooo...I will give it a F+ improperly cleaned.
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Moderator
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16679 Posts |
Quote:
From the pics it looks like it may have its patina stripped? Would that account for that sort of "glossy brown" look? I know olive oil is a common soak method. Thanks! swcoin.ecrater.com
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Pillar of the Community
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3229 Posts |
Vermontensium, I am not sure how your coin was cleaned. It could have been a chemical or electrolysis cleaning. After it may well have been in an olive oil soak, but I have not personally seen olive oil remove the original patina from an ancient coin. One coin left in olive oil for 3 years:O
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Pillar of the Community
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3229 Posts |
Here is my first roman coin. Licinius with Jupiter reverse. The seller informed me that he purchased it from a guy who uses electrolysis to clean his coins. I spent hours researching this this coin and still love it because it was my first, but I wouldn't spend the $30.00 again on an electrocuted coin. Please grade.   |
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Pillar of the Community
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3444 Posts |
I always have trouble grading silver and gold. The Severus denarius seems to have porosity which is common as the silver begins the half century of debasement between Severus and Gallienus. Good details give it a low end VF.
Gold I won't even venture a guess ........ So many AV's seem to be AU's
Valentinian seems just fine to me except it looks 'uncleaned'..... can't really grade until the dirt gets washed off ! But it looks to be a winner (probably a VF)
Constantius II ...... I have no problems with the finish at all. Looks like it had a long bath in the 'extra virgin' which gave it the dull greenish olive coloring (fine by me) As the massive production rates of the period resulted in quite a few 'bad' strikes this one is a high ender. Well centered and with unworn dies .... high end VF.
Lastly Licinius with IOVI CONSERVATORI (Zeus Saves !) Again massive output made the issue both common and with plenty of variety. Not tooooooo bad really but the extra 'crusty' stuff that looks very permanent knocks it down a few pegs. Mid range fine.
Somewhere I have a similar one that just blew me away. I usually don't go after Licinius but I spied one at a local auction and nabbed it for 25 clams. What attracted me was it still had silver wash on the surfaces. Let me check through my photos
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Pillar of the Community
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3444 Posts |
Well I did mention that Santa came early this year ...... I have had to keep a lid on the inflow after some purchases over the fall. I spied this one up for grabs in Hispania and found the opportunity too much for my willpower to overcome. I had one very similar recently where Elagabalus had that 'thing' on his laurel but my brother was lusting after it so I had to do the decent thing and accept his generous offer. This one is minus that 'thing' but at the emperors feet (reverse) the sacrificial bull is visible on which the other it was not. Good portrait ...... legends a bit weak. Overall though it has the things I look for in a sestertius of this period. Oh and nice patina too ! I decided to leave the coin as is for now but may give it a gentle treatment in the extra virgin oil later on. AE Sestertius of Elagabalus Rv. Emperor sacrificing   I give it a low end VF ...... I am sure some will differ But thats what makes it interesting ! |
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Moderator
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23731 Posts |
Nice bust details, wear and missing legends along with ruff reverse surface I would grade this coin at Fine.
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Pillar of the Community
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3229 Posts |
 , that is Fine coin!  |
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Pillar of the Community
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3444 Posts |
As I stated previously ..........
Tough crowd !
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Moderator
United States
16679 Posts |
Ancient coin grading almost coincides with Colonial grading.
If this was a Colonial, it would get a F from me.
swcoin.ecrater.com
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Pillar of the Community
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3444 Posts |
But there is one big difference between this type of a "bronze" and a Colonial copper. Over the entire surface of this coin is a thick (about 1/64 inch) hard glossy layer of dark green patina. The coin has been cleaned and the process halted before all the encrustation was 100% cleaned away. For me it is very appealing because this sort of condition cannot really be easily faked. It is very much a guarantee of being genuine. In my leisure I will remove most of the remaining 'dirt' which covers it with toothbrush and toothpicks (maybe just a dab of toothpaste too !) What I expect in the end will be much improved as far a the 'rough' reverse and blotches on the obverse.
I have very high hopes for this one as the underlying color scheme is my favorite glossy olive patina.
Edited by FVRIVS RVFVS
12/25/2013 7:19 pm
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Pillar of the Community
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3444 Posts |
One of the toughest 'calls' in collecting ancients is when I find something which makes me want to stand up and shout ! Or maybe howl at the moon ..... Then you turn it over and well ...... not so much. The question I always ask myself is "Will this coin drive me nuts ?" In this case the price justified a compromise and I have never regretted FYI It was so long ago I am clueless as to what it set me back. But I really don't care as I intend on hanging tight ! AE Sestertius of Antoninus Pius Rv. Young Marcus as Ceasar   The big factor here is that the portrait of Marcus is essentially intact. The pitting is primarily on the right half of the field and legend. Unfortunate but if it was not less than the obverse I could never have afforded it. |
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Moderator
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23731 Posts |
The obverse details on this coin are outstanding and EF+, however the reverse has that corrosion which IMO will reduce the grade of the overall grade to VF.
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Pillar of the Community
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3444 Posts |
Looks like with are back to a simple dialogue on this thread. What a shame too ...... it is a good way to have some debate about a very subjective topic. Anyway ....... here we have an interesting piece. I purchased several years back from our good 'amigo' in Hispania, Antonio. The photo in the listing did not really show how much scraping had been done and I am rather loathe to return items unless there is something seriously wrong with a coin. I would not have been so eager had I seen it in hand first. But it is a rare type showing Antoninus 'crowning' the new King of Armenia (actually a Roman Senator who had some Armenian ancestry). As always Armenia was caught in the middle of powerful neighbors who liked to make friends and influence people the old fashioned way ....... by banging heads ! AE Sesterius of Antoninus Pius Rv. Pius crowning Armenian King (actually looks like he is patting him on the head)   |
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Posted 12/23/2013 11:06 pm
