Chalkis, Coele Coin Of Cleopatra VI In Copper Or Gold?

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Author	Replies: 6 / Views: 1,167
pat44 Valued Member Canada 96 Posts	Posted 11/01/2016 3:12 pm Hi all, Anybody have seen one of these in copper or gold? Kingdom of Chalkis, Syria, Coele. Chalkis ad Libanon. Kleopatra VII of Egypt. 36-30 BC. Obverse: Diademed and draped bust right. Reverse: Athena charging left with shield and spear.weight: 4.2g - dia: 16mm. Copper?gold? I had this coin for around 10 years now. I was cherry picking my coins one time(like I usually do)at an ancient coins dealer many years ago. As I was sifting through his coins I picked this one up to put it with the other beside me that I have already chosen to buy. I did not know what it was actually because I always pick up strange coins that I have never seen before. Anyways, when I picked this one up the dealer stood up as if there was fire under his b... Apparently he didn't seem to like what I had chosen. Maybe he missed seeing it that it was something else and should not have left it with this lot, I don't know. But his reaction was very strange and got stuck with me. The first picture below is how this coin looked before I cleaned it a bit with lemon juice. The second is how it looks today, the lighting though is not correct. And it's luster after cleaning it with lemon juice has died a bit. I've done a lot of research but never found one in copper(or maybe gold?)these coins are rare and all of those that I have seen are in bronze. I don't know if my coin is in copper or gold yet. But when I first saw it I felt it could be gold or electrum. Unfortunately I'm not home where my coin is to do the gold test. Any thoughts or ideas? Do you think it's in copper or gold? {CORRECTED: I meant Brass not copper,sorry} Edited by pat44 11/01/2016 3:58 pm Report this Post to the Staff

january1may Pillar of the Community Russian Federation 5178 Posts	Posted 11/01/2016 3:43 pm Gold doesn't really tarnish. If it had this much patina, it's probably not gold. I can't see the colors in the second pictures - if the first picture is correct, it's probably brass, which as far as ancient coins are concerned is a fancy kind of copper. Report this Post to the Staff
echizento Moderator United States 23731 Posts	Posted 11/01/2016 4:12 pm This is an AE not AV coin, I believe it's RPC 4773. http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/gree...alkis/t.html Report this Post to the Staff
pat44 Valued Member Canada 96 Posts	Posted 11/02/2016 07:51 am Thank you january1may and echizento. Pure gold does not tarnish but if there are alloys with it then it will tarnish, the alloyed metals will that is. But what about this black patina on it? Ive been reading here and there on gold and it seems some gold/alloys developp black patina. I guess I will wait for that gold acide test then see. Edited by pat44 11/02/2016 08:33 am Report this Post to the Staff
january1may Pillar of the Community Russian Federation 5178 Posts	Posted 11/02/2016 12:07 pm You do realize that if you do an acid test and it turns out to be brass (which I'm 99% sure it will be) you'd just end up ruining whatever value you had, right? Heck, just do a specific gravity test, gold/electrum and brass have completely different density. The reason your dealer reacted that way was presumably because all coins with the portrait of the Cleopatra (including this one, which I didn't initially realize due to the title typo) are very popular, and thus valuable, beyond their rarity. Report this Post to the Staff
Finn235 Pillar of the Community United States 6130 Posts	Posted 11/02/2016 1:21 pm Don't ruin a perfectly good and valuable coin! I am not aware of any "bad" gold from that part of the world and time... having pure (95-99%) gold coins was critical to being taken seriously, and Cleopatra was known for wanting to be taken seriously. She would not have tolerated the production of gold of low enough purity to develop a patina. If this was a gold coin of Cleopatra, your initial cleaning would have revealed a bright gold coin. Report this Post to the Staff
pat44 Valued Member Canada 96 Posts	Posted 11/02/2016 4:33 pm Thank you for your input january1may and finn! Sorry for the title typo. I tried fixing it but couldn't because it's a post older then one day. I did not know that it was that valuable. This is the first Cleopatra THE Cleopatra coin I've ever seen. How valuable are we talking about here, do you have any idea? We'll forget the acid test then. Beside I hate acids, I had a terrible accident long time ago and ended up in the hospital unable to breath. Acids are just obnoxious! To see what I mean, In a somewhat dark room. While keeping a distance, put some light behind a glass flask with some acid in and see the nastiness of these fumes rising up really fast. Since it's Brass, how come I could not find one example of similar coin made of brass? The very few I came across(including the wildwinds ones and coinarchives one)were made of bronze. Being in brass put this coin in a different category no? The dealer reaction attracted my attention but I didn't think much of it until later. He knew right away what this coin was as I was examining it in front of him but since it had that black patina on he missed seeing it before and thought it was just another bronze coin. If I knew this was a coin of Cleopatra I would not have touched it let alone clean it. Edited by pat44 11/02/2016 4:36 pm Report this Post to the Staff
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