Numismatic Enjoyment with Damaged and Corroded Roman Bronzes

I was not in the mood to spend a lot of money at the last Numismata Coin Show.
The year has been heavy with unplanned expenditures (children, health, house, Irma?), so that has put a big dent in my numismatic budget for the future.
I still enormously enjoyed seeing all the coins the many ancients coin dealers in attendance had to offer, but alas, no major buying.

However, I did allow myself a few low cost additions (4 coins in total), two of which I am showing here. Both are damaged and corroded, but both were low cost.
But guess what, I am getting a lot of enjoyment out of them.

I could not pass on this sestertius of Vespasian at 75 euros. The obverse is pitted and corroded, but lovely patina (and scarce!).
I am treating the green spots with Verdi-Care.



VESPASIAN, 69-79 AD. Æ Sestertius of Lyon, 71 AD.
Obv: Laureate head
Rev: oak-wreath containing SPQR PP OB CIVES SERVATOS. RIC.1137.

One of my favorite reverses.



Another was this as of Antoninus Pius with ANCILIA reverse.
I have always wanted one. They are not exactly rare, but are eagerly sought.
This one has patina problems and potential peeling at the edge, but it was low cost.


How about you - will you settle for damaged coins provided the price is right?

Show your 'scarce but damaged' coins!

 

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Please keep us up to date with the results of the VerdiCare treatment. I've heard a lot of different opinions about when and how it should be used. I'd love to hear about your experience with the Vespasian.

I have many damaged coins that I could share, but this, found in a batch of large crusties, is probably the worst of the ones that have remained in my more or less permanent collection. I'd love to upgrade it, but every one I've seen is out of my price range:

Vitellius
Imperator, 69 A.D.
Bronze As
Spanish (Tarraco?) mint
Obv: A VITELLIVS - IMP GERMAN
Rev: VICTORIA AVGVSTI - Victory, with shield inscribed S P Q R, between S and C
RIC 46
29mm, 8.4g.

 

I really like them both and would've 'pulled the trigger' on them at that price

My example is more of a worn example with environmental damage but seemed nice enough for me at a 'budget price'...especially compared to the many thousands it brings at auction in a higher more desirable grade.The example below mine sold for $250,000

Caligula AE Sestertius
Caligula (37-41 AD). AE Sestertius (34 mm, 25.83 g), Roma (Rome), 39-40.
Obv. C CAESAR DIVI AVG PRON AVG P M TR POT IIII P P / PIETAS in exergue, Pietas, veiled and draped, seated left, holding patera and resting arm on small draped figure, standing on a basis.
Rev. DIVO AVG / S - C in two lines across field, Caligula standing left, holding patera over altar; on either side, victimarius, holding bull for sacrifice, and attendant, holding patera; hexastyle, garlanded temple of Divus Augustus in background.
Cohen 10. RIC 44.

 

Still both nice coins, although the corrosion has eaten into Vespasian cheek you can still make out the facial details. The Pius reverse looks stable enough, good buys. My most damaged coin is this AR Denarius of Augustus 28 BC, although still weighing 3.4gm when struck silver was to soft making for a large thin and fragile flan, I see quite a lot of these on this type. Would run into four digit euro's with this detail except for it's problem. But I paid under 200 delivered. The senate house in forum today Julia Curia.

 

Love the Antoninus Pius , Eduard. Sure beats mine in quality not in price, it was a fee gift.


Here's a scarce coin, but heavily corroded, bargain at 17 euro ?

 

Some good pick-ups at reasonable prices, like the AP coin. Here's a Antoninus Pius with a sweet reverse, provincial...

 

Love the corrosion on these...looks more authentic as a coin of this era should...real "relics" at a reasonable price!

 

Those are great looking coins, Eduard. In a weird way, I sometimes feel that damage adds something to ancient coins - Venus di Milo without the arms, or a busted-up Roman Forum. Here are a couple of busted-up antoninianii - a Philip I elephant and Gordian III:

 

The obverse bust of this Gordie provincial has a scratch, and the reverse at 10 to 12 o'clock has signs of heavy corrosion to the point the legend is lost there, but I love this coin.

 

I still think that your coins are interesting well worth the low price you paid for them !

 

Those aren't bad at all. I was thinking they were going to be more like this one til I scrolled down

IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG P M T P P P COS III, bust laureate r. resting on globe and with aegis on shoulder

FIDES EXERCITVVM, S C in ex. , clasped hands before legionary eagle on prow.
ric 70

 

Although there's a lot to be said for coins in "gemmy" condition, it always seems to me that they're rather like the unfortunate specimens of rare fish, bird or critter, robbed of a full life when they were captured, killed and taxidermied to show in a sterile glass case in a museum.
Coins are (or at least historically have been) a "living" phenomenon and much of their appeal to me is in the connection they point-up between them, then and us, now - and how familiar the feeling of change in one's pocket or purse has been to humans around the world for millennia. If coins are in constant use, passing from hand to hand they will accumulate wear. Some will boldly show the effects of millennia of diagenesis - not always "kind". Some will have other physical damage, including those bent or holed, and those chopped to make change. Some even came from the mint in a somewhat "debilitated" state, artistically speaking. The general experience of coins - both ours and theirs - is subject to the same laws of entropy as the rest of the universe.
I'm not sure where I'd begin in showing "less-than-perfect" specimens - I have quite a few, a given as a result of a relatively "low-rent" life and lifestyle. This one, however, might stand for many of the others. A $2 pick-box Hadrian sestertius, of which the photo comes near to, but doesn't quite capture the cameo-like beauty of a coin so profoundly worn as to be unable to be fully cataloged.
The photo doesn't quite capture how much its beauty resembles that of an antique cameo carved from stone or shell.
Although I own and have owned many Hadrian Æ's over the years, this remains one of my all-time favorites.

 

this one is really rough, but it is a rare type with a workshop that is not listed in RIC

Constantine I
A.D. 320
18x19mm 2.9gm
CONST-ANTINVS AVG; laureate helmet and cuirassed bust.
REV: Laurel wreath enclosing VOT/ XV FEL / XX RT
RIC VII Rome 219

 

I would have bought them. Both are attractive and desirable coins dispite the problems. I bought this Edward the Confessor penny with the hole because it was a nice looking coin to me and one that I might not afford without the damage. Besides, the hole is part of the coins history.

 

This coin has some rough surfaces, if it didn't...I wouldn't be able to afford it.



Still will be my top coin of the year probably.

 

Here is a coin I bought that is damaged. It is a quarter noble of Edward III. I wanted a hammered gold coin and this one appeared so I grabbed it. To me the damage on this coin is part of its history. The other reason I liked the coin is the fact that it was minted at Calais, a rare mint for this coin.

 

RImp Spain Lepida-Clesa Lepidus - mon C Balbus L Porcius Colonia Victrix Ivlia Lepida Victory - Bull holed RPI 262 plate 19


This one is AR but loved...

RR Gaius Cassius Longinus & P Corn Lentulus Spinther AR den 42 BCE military mint Brutus Cassius Smyrna Libertas r- jug & lituus 18mm 3.3g

My NEWEST:

RI Trajan AE Dichalkon Laureate hd L Rhinoceros walking L LI-Z yr 17 CE 113-114 12.9mm 1.25g Emmet 719 var. SCARCE normally rhino is right


RR Anon AE Half-Litra 234-231 BC Roma Phrygian Dog S 598 Cr 26-4


RI Jovian 363-364 AE 20mm Folles VOT V

Corroded but scarce


RI Publius Quinctilius Varus 5-4 BCE AE20 8.0g Tetrachalkon Zeus Tyche Orontes Antioch Yr ZK RPC 4252 SNG Cop 92

 

@Eduard ! Your corroded coins are beautiful! I don't think there is any such thing as a damaged ancient coin. Ancient coins show the effects of ancient events. If there were a coin that had been bent out of shape and severely scratched as a result of being stepped on by Hannibal's elephant—we would call it a priceless relic.

 

They are great coins! I concur with everyone else here about "damaged" coins.. that's mostly all i collect and i question "perfect" ancients. I love an ancient that still has lots of detail, but imperfections give the coins character and shows their age.