Coin Talk

Hello, everyone. In the past couple of months I have successfully conserved 2 coins that had artificial toning. PLEASE NOTE: This is only informational based on my experience. Be careful if attempting to do this for your own coins. My first successful attempt was on an NGC XF45 1827 Capped Bust Half Dollar, that I bought because it was the unidentified 1827/6 over-date. When I received the coin, it was clearly artificially toned and had what I call a "chalky" appearance to the bluish toning, which hid the luster and dulled the surfaces.

The auction room at the Bar au Lac in Zurich Switzerland was ready for the NAC auction. The dealers reserved their seats and the first lot started at 14:30 and was to finish at around 17:00. It was a Monday the dealers had flown in from all over the world at the weekend. There were very few collectors in the room in fact I think only 4 or 5 and the remainder were dealers with now the added internet and telephone bidders of both collectors and dealers.

The highlight of the Auction came early Lot 24 a CALIGULA Sestertia with a wonderful Tiber Patina, estimated at 250’000 CHF it opened at 325’000 CHF and sold at 600’000 CHF hammer price to a ‘hand clap’ ovation in the room. Roman BRONZES are the ‘darling’ of the true Roman coin collectors.

It should always be said that the top auction houses attract the finest coins available in the market and usual because of their name and credibility these auction houses are frequented by...

Another reshoot, this time of my bronze styca of King Eanred, who ruled the Kingdom of Northumbria from roughly 810-850 AD.

This coin has some provenance:

Ex Bolton Percy Hoard (1847); Ex William Fennell Collection; Ex "Property of a Nobleman" Collection (Christies Auction, 14 April 1981), lot 119; Ex Peter Moffat Collection (Classical Numismatic Group Electronic Auction 286), lot 574

Currently in the ValiantKnight Collection



Obv: EANRED REX + around a cross
Rev: MONNE dot + around a cross (Monne was the moneyer)
Mint: York (struck 810-850 AD)
Ref: Spink 862
Size: 0.98 gr., 13 mm wide

After the Romans left Britain in 410 AD, the Romano-British were left to fend for themselves from hostile tribes north of Hadrian's Wall (still in use at this time) and raiders from Hibernia (Ireland). The Britons soon turned to the Angles and Saxons for help, but this...

I missed the last Baltimore show (due to my son’s wedding last March) so I was definitely looking forward to being back in Baltimore and seeing some of my east coast customers. I was also pleased that the weather forecasts showed mild weather and that they finished building the casino not far from the convention center!



My travel day began early Wednesday morning with a short connection time in Chicago. So when my flight leaving Orange County was delayed, I became very concerned whether I would make my connection. Then I discovered my plane was landing at terminal B in Chicago, while my flight to Baltimore was leaving from terminal C which was on the other side of the tarmac. When we finally landed, I had about 20 minutes to catch my flight, but my biggest concern was whether there would be overhead space for my roller bag full of coins. I was also worried that my checked bag wouldn’t make my flight! So I dashed as fast as I could dragging along my roller bag and...

Elagabalus, reigned 218-222 CE. AR denarius, 19.4 mm, 3.5 gm. Struck 218-219 CE, Antioch. ANTONINVS PIVS FEL AVG, Laureate draped cuirassed bust right / SANCT DEO SOLI / ELAGABAL, Quadriga right, bearing sacred Baetyl stone, flanked by four parasols. RIC IV 195, Antioch.

Varius Ativus Bassianus is an interesting character in the colorful Severan Dynasty. Born to the niece of Julia Domna and possibly sired by Domna's son Caracalla, the emperor we now call Elagabalus was known to Romans as Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus.

So... if the rumors are true, Elagabalus and Severus Alexander are half brothers rather than cousins; the father is their first cousin, once removed. By adoption, Severus Alexander also became the son of Elagabalus. Then Elagabalus tried to kill his son. Don't you feel better about your weird family now?

The history of Elagabalus is...

I have noticed that there have been a couple of people asking about the 1909 S V.B.D cents recently. As this is something I have been trying to educate myself on I thought I would share a couple of the simplest ways to identify the most common fakes.

Below I will show a Fake example with a real 1909 S V.D.B below it.




#1 look at the mint mark

Fake

....

I recently picked up another Jefferson nickel album full of toners...

Sounds awesome right? Not always.
With the good, comes the bad.

With my experience in buying full albums of toned coins, it's fairly common to get the black "carbon" spots on some of the coins in the album. In fact, I believe these little jerks are the reason the coins are toning. With some luck, they only infect a few coins...

In this case, not many of the toners were spared from the spots.
It's a shame, because some of these are real beauties.

This will be a good opportunity to try some techniques to remove the spots, without removing the color. We shall see what happens.

In the meantime, here are some of the infected coins that otherwise, would be real stunners.


This one is a...

These two rare nummi were struck by the Visigothic Kingdom, the dominant power in Hispania (Spain and Portugal) from the 5th to 8th centuries AD. The Visigoths, a Christianized Germanic tribe, are best known as the barbarians that sacked Rome in 410 AD, the first conquest of the city in eight centuries, and, although mild as far as sacks go, was a major psychological victory over the Romans. The Visigoths after the sack eventually made their way into Roman Gaul (France), where they were later granted the province of Aquitania after securing peace with the Western Empire.

Over the course of the 5th century they expanded southwards into Hispania, fighting the Vandals for control of the land, and again the Romans, who...

Today I went to the small show in Richmond VA which produced five new coins all from one dealer. Of course, both dealers there were at Fredericksburg a couple weeks ago and will be at Baltimore in a couple weeks so I could have talked myself out of going. Of the five coins, two came with surprises when I found them on acsearch. I fail to understand many things but am seriously suspecting that some of the information on some of these online sites is questionable.

The subject of this thread is a type I did not know so it was not on my want list. I might not have bought it except for the fact that (a) I trust the dealer and (b) do not claim to know all of the million or so ancient types. This one is in Sear (2403) but is not illustrated there. There are several on acsearch where I learned that the monogram letters on the reverse vary from coin to coin. I was thrilled to find one of the acsearch shown coins had my same monogram. Then I saw that it was my coin and was listed as...

Here is a somewhat interesting notgeld coin:



Feel free to let me know if you read it and find glaring errors. I am not a very good writer and I write these fast without another to edit them so I am sure there are errors. I dont usually post these but I just found this coin, and the ideas expressed on it, fascinating and felt the need to pass it on. The main purpose is to document the coin and offer as much information possible while keeping it brief.

I also need a bit of help. There is one last bit of information I am missing. One major theme of this coin is a local Bielefeld Tale about a Blacksmith who makes a deal with the devil. As of yet I have been unable to find a good translation of this story. I do have it in German. Babelfish...