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 Replies: 12 / Views: 2,030 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4778 Posts |
Got this Augustus denarius and in hand, to me it doesn't seem like a solid silver denarius. The three main things telling me this are the silver having that shiny-plated look some fourees seem to have (although it might just be overcleaned), the surface silver looks like it peeled/broke off in certain spots, and probably more importantly, it doesn't have a distinctive ring sound silver coins have when I flip it. Just sounds like a dull, bronze coin (when I flip it good I can hear a tiny bit of a silver ring to it). The thing that has me on the fence about this is that I see no evidence of a copper core in the more damaged areas of the coin. Denarii and fourees are not my area of expertise, so I would appreciate any help with this coin, thanks. It weighs 2.7 grams.     Edited by VisigothKing
06/09/2014 5:15 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
1569 Posts |
Looks like a typical provincial (Lyons) denarius with Gaius and Lucius Caesars, but a bit on the light side weight wise.
Would like to get it in hand to be sure.
You will never soar like an eagle if you hang around with turkeys.....
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
1569 Posts |
Expensive coin if it's right.
You will never soar like an eagle if you hang around with turkeys.....
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3444 Posts |
Edges show signs of chipping. As far as I am aware this is typical of real ancient silver coins which have crystalized. Rather than bending they will crack. One of my earliest coins was a Republican denarii which had been neatly cracked in half by my older brother who had hastily tried to press it into a tight plastic flip. He was so disgusted he gave it to me ! A bit of super glue almost made it whole.
It may make an unsatisfactory 'ring of silver' when dropped due to fractures within the flan. It is pretty beaten up !
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
1569 Posts |
Quote:
A bit of super glue almost made it whole.  You will never soar like an eagle if you hang around with turkeys.....
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
4778 Posts |
I hate to jump to conclusions so quickly, but from the look of things it seems more likely its official, solid silver then?
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
3626 Posts |
Nope, its rubbish. I will take it off your hands for $5 :)
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Moderator
 United States
23731 Posts |
It looks official but very corroded. Must have been buried in moist soil.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4973 Posts |
strange how it looks like its layered. but it's shiny. unless someone made a fouree by plating fine silver on some poor quality billon type stuff, I would guess it was genuine. if an ancient fake, it's still just as interesting a coin in my book...if not more so.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
513 Posts |
Hardly any point in putting silver over billion though. I think it just crystallized and was damaged.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
I have seen genuine denarii corrode like this before.
The fact that it appears to be layered does not put me off.
The metal before blanking may have been folded and rolled.
The metal could have degraded partly into horn silver and crystallized silver in layers.
Aggressive environmental conditions such as burial could have achieved the rest of what you can see now.
Now impossible to confirm as genuine with weight measurements alone.
XRF testing of the core and surface alloys would be a lot more informative; XRF testing is not really expensive, and can can yield a result in minutes.
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
4208 Posts |
I have a Tetradrachm of Nero which has a fine silver coat over a billon center, so is possible.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5155 Posts |
This coin is silver and not a fouree. What you see there is heavily corroded silver. Salt water can cause this kind of corrosion as well.
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Replies: 12 / Views: 2,030 |
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Posted 06/09/2014 5:18 pm
