The weight is 9.7 grams and the diameter is about 26 mm. it appears to be an As of Hadrian. Reverse is Salus feeding a serpent.
What bothers me is that it is completely black and I have never seen a Roman that looks like this. It is almost like a coating, but I cannot rub or scrape any off with my fingernail or by rubbing the edge on paper.
Can anyone advise me what might cause this or if I should have concerns?
I have not bought it so it does not matter to me from a financial point of view.
Not sure what the coating is on the coin but it seems authentic. I would soak in acetone to see if the coating comes off. Looks like a nice coin underneath.
Definitely a candidate for the acetone bath ! That being said it has every appearance of being genuine. Just for 'larks' I once took a Victorinus 'ant' that had been stripped down to bare metal and sprayed it with a quick blast of Rustoleum ! This was after having acquired something similar looking that the acetone washed away.
The results had a similar look ! Toning down over cleaned ancients is not dishonest. But using paint or dye crosses the line
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