I'm terrible at this, but, if this is tooled, I can't tell. If I were going to tool this coin, I would also smooth out the fields and sharpen the legends. Personally, I think it's a great looking Helena.
I dont think its tooled. The field in which the text sits and the field in which the empress is on is the same. If the lettering were tooled the field that it rests on would be lower than the original background field. So I think its just a real sharp coin.
I do think that's a nice coin JA. The detail in the hair would cause me to ask the same question. I haven't really developed an eye for spotting tooled ancients. Since we're on the subject of tooled coins, what do you guys think of this Marcus Aurelius? This is what I would imagine a tooled coin to look like, simply because the detail on the portrait seems to be too sharp in contrast with the wear and corrosion of the fields and legends...am I wrong?
Once again I do not see any tooling. But my eyes haven't been trained to see tooling either. What about the reverse?
Sharp dies, a crisp strike and little evidence of wear leading to a pleasing looking coin entirely in keeping with the style shown of other sharp examples from this mint.
Mmmm, purdy => that's a fairly eye-appealing coin, JA .... ummm sure, it has no animals or weapons, but it's still a really cool lookin' coin!! Some tool-experts are suggesting that pretty much all of the AE coins have been tampered with in some way or another, so I guess it's merely a matter of finding an example with "limited tooling", right? Keep-up the good work, JA => I love your taste in coins, brother!!
On both the obverse and reverse, the legends appear to be untouched and I would agree with most other assessments here that they haven't been tooled. The detail in the hair of the obverse bust, however, looks artificial (as has already been pointed out) and the outline of the front of the face on the obverse seems tooled as well. There also appears to be some sharpening of the detail on the reverse, but it's less jarring than on the obverse. If I were to make an educated guess, I would describe this as moderately tooled in the devices.
Aw, you should warn a guy. I saw the auction as well, but let it go since I thought a buddy was going to bid.
Sorry about that!! It went for a reasonable price too. I was just soliciting the wisdom of this board. Anyway, keep that seller in your favorites list. She's a friend of mine and she's slowly selling off a large inherited collection, all with 99-cent starting bids and no reserve. She's got at least a hundred more coins to go.
