Old Silver, New Pics...

So I spent a few hours taking a lot of shots with different lighting and improved the pics of these coins quite a bit. I've always found silver difficult - no pic seems to capture how it glistens. I'm still not thrilled with these, but they're a significant improvement over my earlier, dull gray ones.

I would really like to clean the ugly spots off the obverse of the Trajan. Normally I don't mind such things, but this one really bothers me. Any suggestions?

 

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You could try lemon juice on the trajan and use a toothpick to scrap it off after it has soaked for awhile.

Not sure how hard it is. If its red encrustations, then its a #$&@%(& to remove.

 

lovely coins, never saw a camel on a coin befgore!

 

That's more or less what I was thinking. Straight up lemon juice, or diluted?

 

It's an Arabian provincial. Camels are are not common at all. There's another type of Trajan's I intend to collect: Arabia standing with a camel at her feet.

 

I use straight. May remove some of the toning though. But I would sacrifice the toning to attempt to remove that blotch on the portrait. I know I couldnt live with it.

 

JohnAnthony, I've thought about doing a ancient animal set which would have all sorts of different animals, definitely would be fun to do!

 

It's a great idea of course. Stevex is the master of that collecting pursuit on this forum. Are there any animals he doesn't have?

 

OK, thank you.

 

Camels are scarce, but of course being a Central Asian collector not as rare for me. Sogdia produced 2 I am aware of, John A has one example of an Arabia provicial here, and he mentions another. On Roman Republican coins there are at least 2 camel issues, one naming Aretas and another from a few years earlier also describing a victory in the middle east.

Those are the major camel types I am aware of. I am sure there are more.

 

Good luck removing those spots. Have you tried soaking in Acetone for a long time & then tried to pick at the spots with a thorn or toothpick under magnification? Acetone won't affect the toning present on the balance of the coin.

I suspect the spots are thick black toning. The spots are probably going to be deep & very difficult to remove. IMO there is some nice toning on the balance of the coin. It would be a shame to turn the entire coin bright. You may end up with (1) a bright coin or (2) three bright spots instead of three black spots. Consider saturating a wood toothpick with full strength jewel luster dip. You could touch a spot with the toothpick and then neutralize the coin with a rinse. When the coin is dried, inspect the spot & possibly attempt touching it again with the saturated toothpick. You might need to repeat this about 20-50 times. There is a slim chance you might lighten the spot(s) without making them bright silver. Consider performing this procedure with the coin under a microscope or other magnification.

 

ROMAN REPUBLIC
M. Aemillus Scaurus &
Pub. Plautius Hypsaeus
AR Denarius, Rome Mint
58 BC

3.80 grams, 18 mm.
Obv: Camel standing right & Nabatean King Aretas kneeling right. M.SCAVR / AED.CVR above camel. SC to right. REX ARETAS in exergue.
Rev: Jupiter in galloping quadriga left, scorpion below horses. P.HYPSAE / CVR above, CAPTV on right, C.HVPSAE.COS/PREIVE in ex.
Grade: aVF nicely toned & centered.
Other: Commemorative coin describes the surrender of the Nabateans to the Romans in 58 BC. (The Nabateans may have just bribed the Roman commander to go away & play someplace else). Full camel on tight flan resulting in some lettering off the flan.

 

Thanks for the advice Collect89, and that's a gorgeous Scaurus!

 

Without real close ups of the spots to see how hard they are, I doubt acetone would help. Thats why I suggested lemon juice.

 

There is a bronze issue of Bostra under Commodus, some Indo-Scythians, and the strange remake of the Scaurus coin by A. Plautius with Bacchius surrendering Judaea. That's all that comes to mind.

 

Yah, I am having a blast collecting animal coins (the coolest part is the fact that I don't concentrate on Greek, Roman, or any one specific time-period => I'm all over the board, merely pickin' & chosing super-cool animal coins) ... I totally recommend the theme ... ummm, but just stay away from my auction-coins!!

Wow, the more I collect animal-coins, the more I realize that I'll "never" (never, ever-ever!!) collect one hundreth of the cool animal examples!!

=> the varying examples are seemingly endless!!! ... and just when I think I'm getting a good handle on things, I'll discover a whole new branch of coins (different areas and/or eras ... it blows my mind!!)

=> oh, and that's a fantastic coin, Collect89 (as per usual with your cool schtuff!!)

... I also have an example ... yup, there are soooo many animals on this coin (it's a definite winner for animal-coin collectors!!)

 

High magnification, steady hand...fine/sharp scalpel. Thats what I would do, it would work, but all three of the above required to avoid scratching.........
Also, you could use #@#@ ........I had to dip some Postumus ants the other day to remove similar spots. It didnt make them shiny, didnt damage the silver and the spots came right off.......nasty stuff though, it'll take your face off if you dont take precautions.
PM me for details of #@#@ dont want kids reading this and trying it.

 

Suggestion:
On the last two of the OP coins - both Gordian: There is very different lighting angle on these two. I like the second one better but you need to compare each and decide what you like.

 

I forgot to mention that the group seems to be well photographed. Now it is a matter of playing with details and making them 1% better every time you decide to play with the controls.

Someone mentioned this one which comes in a couple legend variations:

 

I also like the second one, it appears the light is lower giving more shadow..?