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Unknown Coin. Possible Roman? (Id: Diocletian Tet)

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 Posted 01/17/2022  10:05 pm Show Profile   Bookmark this topic Add captainkurt to your friends list Get a Link to this Message Number of Subscribers
Any info would be appreciated! Love to put some info on the flip.
Also how do you grade or value coins like this?
Any info is really appreciated!

Unknown-Coin.-Possible-Roman?-Id:-Diocletian-Tet
Unknown-Coin.-Possible-Roman?-Id:-Diocletian-Tet
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Sap's Avatar
Australia
16808 Posts
 Posted 01/17/2022  10:45 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Sap to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
It is indeed Roman. Specifically, a Late Roman Provincial tetrdrachm from Roman Egypt. Emperor Diocletian, Year 3 (AD 286-287).

I'm a bit worried about the pale green colour. That's usually either a sign of artificial patina, or a sign of active bronze disease corroding the coin. These late-period tetradrachms were made of very cheap alloy, often high in lead, so can come up in some strange colour patterns.

Grading an ancient coin is different to a modern coin. The "grade" describes the general state of preservation, which has to combine both the original circulation wear on the coin and any subsequent corrosion from being buried for 2000 years. How well-centred it is also affects the price - unlike modern coins, an off-centre strike is worth less, not more, than a perfectly centred example.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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 Posted 01/17/2022  10:49 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Sap to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
I think the figure on the reverse is Tyche? It's a bit too worn/corroded for me to be certain, but Tyche is the only figure I'm seeing in the catalogues for Year 3.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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 Posted 01/18/2022  01:45 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add captainkurt to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Thanx! Any guidance to preservation or stabilization of the corrosion?
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 Posted 01/19/2022  05:50 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Kushanshah to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
It may be stable and not bronze disease. Keep the coin as dry as possible and watch to see if the green stuff grows over the span of a few weeks. If you determine that there is in fact a problem just search this forum or the web generally for advice on treating it. Bronze disease is a complex cyclic chemical reaction that will eventually consume the object completely if not treated. Treatments involve interruption of the reaction cycle by starving it of essential components.
Edited by Kushanshah
01/19/2022 05:51 am
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 Posted 01/19/2022  07:39 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add captainkurt to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Thanx for the info! I read some use olive oil and valve oil. I am thinking it is stable. I have had the coin for over ten years stored with my other coins safely. I can't honestly remember all the detail but I do remember it having color back in the day. I'll have to watch to make sure it doesn't get worse and protect it as best as I can.
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