Hi these are some ancient coins that I have. Unfortunately I don't know much about ancient coins with most of my knowledge in the victorian era. I've used a US quarter for size comparison. If you need more photos please let me know. Thanks
Hello, yeah the lighting is a too dark not allowing us to see detail... but the coins are rough enough, you may not get much information anyway. We may be able to get a few of them with better lighting and pictures of both sides of the coins. 1-4 and 8 & 9 are all late roman from somewhere between 300AD and 400AD... but that's about all I can say until there are better photos. I guess I can tell that coin #1 is Diocletian. Coin #3 is probably a victory advancing left SECVRITAS REIPVBLICAE type of probably Valentinian or Valens.
Ill happily get some better photos. Might take me a few days before I can get some better lighting. I had quite a few more but none had any obvious detailing. Thanks a lot for the help, I'll post better photos as soon as I can
I agree with @Orange Julius - need some better pictures before we can identify them. Most appear to be mid-to-late fourth century A.D.
It's not for me to say what you should do, or not do, about photography, as I never send in any photos. But you will surely understand that by only taking pictures on one side, means that 50 % is left out with very important clues - assuming the coins aren't so rough as to be virtually illegible. Naturally, You will want the photos as clear as possible, so something about the coins can be conveyed.
I'll try and do that within the next couple of days, and I'll probably post them in smaller lots rather than in such a big group
That's great, lucag123. You're getting the right idea. And it wouldn't surprise me if you were, later on, instructing newcomers what to do, and what not to do. And they'll see how much easier it is to get on the right track !!!
lucag123. You will never be expected to take on board everything offered here. As in a discussion, you will agree with some points, and disagree with others. People giving their views will often consider their own opinions to be Holy Gospel. That may not always be the case. So each of us have to use our own educated judgment. Even those who are quite expert don't always get things right. But we can consider all views, and accept the diamonds amongst the coals.
Greetings lucag123. Welcome to the dark hole of ancient coins here on Coin Talk. In this forum, standard practice is to photograph both sides of each coin. Each coin should be in a separate photo, and it helps to knit both sides together in a single photograph, although this is not mandatory. You should inquire about each coin in a separate thread, and you should include the size and weight and a brief description of how you got the coin (e.g., "came in a lot of 9 coins from eBay" or "was part of a collection I received from my grandmother." If you follow these traditional practices, you'll find that more people are willing to help you ID the coins and that you are more likely to get an accurate identification, especially with an unusual or obscure coin.
But please don't post nine "what is this" threads all in a row! Space them out over the course of a week or two... or longer.
@lucag123 , if you take photos of dark coins on a white background you may have difficulty getting the details of the coins to show--the coins come out too dark in comparison to the white background. Experts can discuss coin photography endlessly, but for your immediate purposes take the photos on a black background or gray. They won't be top quality photos, but the coins will then not be too dark to see. Also, I second @TIF 's request that you not flood us with too many identification requests over a short period of time. Most people who have coins to ID want to know something about their value. I would not pay even $1 for the whole group of 9. They are old, but not valuable when broken or excessively worn. I hope you look around this forum and get interested in ancient coins, many of which are very inexpensive in pleasing condition.
Will do the dark background suggestion as well as find a better light source rather than the flash on my phone. Thank you. As for how I got them, they were a part of some coins I was gifted many years back. I'm not that much of an ancient coins collector and primarily focus on colonial british and american coins. I was never really fussed about their value- I know that poor condition coins made of common metals hold little to no value but just simply wanted an ID on them as I'm starting to get around to putting all my coins into a sorted out storage system. Unfortunately there are no local coin stores where I live so I have to go online for help with IDing. I have looked around online for some nicer roman coins but the issue is the coin market in New Zealand is all over the show- I've seen unidentified blobs of copper go for more than good cond. Greek silver. Thanks for the advice and Ill make sure I can get a better background and lighting for all my future photos.
I usually photograph my coins outdoors on sunny days. I've made a little stand for the coin with a small wooded dowel that I put some modeling clay on top of. The modeling clay, being soft, allows me to adjust the tilt of the coin so that the sunlight approaches the coin at a lower angle. This helps bring out the details a little better.
