A few new Flavians

I have a bunch of coins I have not photographed yet and have vowed to work my way through them. I thought I would start with the Flavian coins I have picked up over the last year. Hadrian will probably be next. I also need to work on the orange glow in the pictures. It's me not the coins.

Vespasian AR Denarius Ephesus mint 70 AD.
Obv. IMP CAESAR VESPAS AVG COS II TR PPP
Rev. PACI ORB TERR AVG
Turreted and draped female bust right. RIC-1413 2.76 grams

Vespasian AR Denarius 77-78 AD
Obv. IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG
Rev. COS VII
Prow right with 8 pointed star above. RIC-941 3.09 grams


Titus AR Denarius 80, 1 Jan - 30 Jun
Obv. IMP TITVS CAES VESPASIAN AVG PM
Rev. TRP IX IMP XV COS VIII PP
2 captives, back to back seated either side of trophy. RIC-102 3.31 grams


Titus AR Denarius 80, 1 Jan - 30 Jun
Obv. IMP TITVS CAES VESPASIAN AVG PM
Rev. TRP IX IMP XV COS VIII PP
Dolphin wrapped around anchor RIC-112 3.32 grams


Domitian AR Denarius 77-78 AD
Obv. CAESAR AVG F DOMITIANVS
Rev. COS V
Horseman galloping right with right hand raised behind. RIC-957 3.27 grams


Domitian AE As 77-78 AD
Obv. CAESAR AVG F DOMITIANVS COS V
Rev. S-C
Specs standing left, holding flower in right hand. RIC-1053 9.02 grams

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Nice Flavians! I particularly like the Titus Dolphin and anchor.

Do you want me to color correct them? Take me 2 minutes.

 

Please do. I really need to work on my photo quality. Thank you.

 

Very nice coins. I love the Vespasian with prow reverse.

 

Best I could do...

 

Thanks Jay, a definite improvement.

 

My pleasure. What kind of camera are you using and how are you lighting them?

 

I just have a Nikon Coolpix on a copy stand. It's capable of taking very high resolution pictures. I think my problem is in my lighting. I have had better luck when I can open the window blinds and get some natural light (not much natural light today) with a bit of side lighting to highlight the details. I'm using desk lamps with daylight LED bulbs.

 

I agree with Jay, I really like the dolphin/anchor reverse. But the portrait on that Domitian As is appealing.
@Jay GT4 the "make over" is a nice touch. I lack the photography skills or maybe the patience, or both

 

Hmm, that sounds pretty good, it's what I do. Does your camera have a white balance setting? You can try putting sheets of white paper over the lamps to soften it too. I place my coin on a stand, I use play dough and then try to fill the entire view finder with the coin. I also don't use the auto Macro setting but manually choose the F stop, usually 8 or 9 will do it.

Shooting the coins is half the fun!

 

Nice coins, I especially like the two ocean themed ones, Vespasian prow that is a great portrait and the Titus anchor dolphin.

 

I do use the auto macro setting. I will try doing and manually and the white paper trick. Of course I will post the results with some nice Hadrian Travel Series coins. I think I have all the denarii with region personifications now. Alexandria was my last one.

 

Those are some nice coins alde. I especially like the Vespasian with the ship's prow reverse and the Titus with the dolphin and anchor reverse. You have picked up some really nice coins.

 

What a nice group of Flavians @alde ! Cool reverses on the denari but that big ol' AS is killer!

I've given up on taking pics with artificial lighting, and switched to sunlight. There are cons of course, like being limited to shooting when it is available.

Post-processing can make a big difference, good job @Jay GT4!

It's pretty easy to do alde, here is a little example using pixlr.

https://pixlr.com/editor/

What at full screen and high resolution, it's easy to see exactly what I'm doing. I don't use pixlr ususally, I use gimp, but even without really being familiar with it, you can see who fast and easy it is.



There is also a mobile version that is very easy to use.
https://www.pixlr.com/

 

I use photoshop cs6 but most programs can handle coins. The key is starting with a good photo that's in focus and in the ballpark with color and tones. If the color is too off it requires too much manipulation to get it right. Post processing should be fine tuning. It takes a lot of trial and error and each coin is different. But I love trying out new methods to shoot coins, part of the fun of handling them.

 

Changing subjects back to your coins, they are all very nice. However, the first coin presented you describe the reverse female as "turreted" I think a more acurate description might be "diademed, towered and draped female bust right".

 

Nice group! I especially like the first two and the anchor and dolphin Titus.

 

That does make sense and works but the description I got straight from RIC II Volume II Part 1 is Turreted and draped on page 162 and also a picture shown on Plate 76.

 

I have an old version of Paint Shop Pro. It's a pretty capable program if you know how to use it.

 

I most probably am wrong, but when I think of turreted I see: