Earlier this year I bought one of those Thracian tetradrachms with Dionysos on the obverse. It was beat up and broken, but the condition put it into the very important works-with-my-budget category. Shortly thereafter I learned that the good people of Thrace made a bronze coin that also featured Dionysos on the obverse. I thought this would be a great partner for the tet and a couple of weeks ago thought I had found the one. It arrived in the mail... and I'm not so sure. The edge is not uniform, which I like, but it seems like there might be a casting seam. I'd love your guys' opinions. She's 23mm and weighs 9.33g. I included several pictures of the edge.
I learn from @dougsmit that some ancient flans were casted then struck, and sometimes the die strike did not eliminate all the signs of casting. Maybe yours is one of those?
I haven't read a lot of the literature, and I don't know what's already out there, but it seems like Doug could write a book on the technical aspects of ancient coins. I hope you're right!
It looks fine to me . Many bronze flans have various amounts of flan preparation, including edge filing.
Huzzah! Thanks for the good news. If you don't mind one more question: are you saying that doesn't appear to be a seam, or that seams are OK on bronze coins? Also PS: I don't post much but lurk almost every day and it's been great seeing your collection on here.
Thanks for the coinpliment . I can't tell if it is a seam from a cast flan but don't think it is. I see various file marks and evidence of flan preparation. Usual disclaimer: I am not an expert
Hot2, don't be a spectator only. Ask John Anthony to include you in his future private auctions. You can have the chance to buy sweet late Roman silver and bronze coins for under $50. He even offers occasional Bronze coins from other empires of ancient Europe and the Middle East at great prices. It's a good way to build a nice collection on the cheap. And by all means, share all your coins with us here. We'd love to see and drool over what you have.
Sallent- I just made a big non-coin purchase that's going to curtail the coin purchases for a while, but I'll get in touch with JA in order to extend the reach of my lurking . As far as the pictures go, I'll get some up sooner or later. My camera set-up isn't good for macro (as you can see above). I know I can buy a point-and-shoot, but after committing to my DSLR I hate to buy yet another camera. I've posted a few dealer photos and will continue to work on the photography. Just two weeks on the ancient side, ey? What brought you over?
Look at my coin pictures in other threads. They were all taken using the camera on my Samsung Note 5. You don't need a very fancy camera to have awesome pictures. A lot comes down to having proper light. Turn on the lights in the room, put a second source of light right next to the camera to direct shadows away and to drown the uneven glare from the ceiling lights on the coin. I've been getting really high quality pictures with a cell phone camera, so its all about patience and practice.
I drop my camera nearly every day, and so in order to spend as little time crying as possible, I own the g'zone, which I'm pretty sure you could hit with a hammer and still make calls and sends texts, but which does not take anything resembling a real photo..
I see nothing I'd call suspicious but am no expert in these and do not know even if they come in bronze. From the photo, I could even see the possibility that the coin is silver and completely uncleaned. If you scratched the edge would you see white or bronze (or would you just have a scratched coin???)? I have learned a few things about coins over the years. One is never to be too certain of anything just from photos. Another is that every question you find an answer for will generate at least two new questions so you end up further from knowing it all that you were before.
http://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=2198661 Ok, they do come in AE so I learned something tonight.
You learned something tonight...I learn 8 or 9 new things every night. I wish I had the knowledge you have on ancient coins. Maybe one day, who knows.
The Aes aren't rare, but what makes the OP coin better than most is the reverse centering. You don't often see that much of the lettering. Nice coin.
Thanks JA! I've got it in distilled water right now... the patina feels a little thick (for lack of a better word), and I think I'm going to move it to olive oil next week.
The coin does not need cleaning my friend! A soak in distilled water may remove a little soil, which is fine. After that, leave it be. The patina is very desirable as is.
Thanks chrsmat... it's the first time I've said "I want THAT coin type" and then gone and got it.. usually I just buy whatever's shiny and in my budget.
