In the last few years, it has become fairly difficult to find the bronzes needed to complete my 12 Caesars portrait collection. Somewhat surprisingly, small bronzes (dupondius or as) have not been as available as one might expect, especially with a good quality, artistic emperor's portrait. Recently I was able to acquire a Vespasian small bronze (dupondius) that finishes my set of Vespasian (small bronze, sestertius, denarius, and aureus): VESPASIAN 69 - 79 A.D. AE Dupondius (14.20 g.) Lugdunum 71 A.D., RIC 1145 IMP CAES VESPASIAN AVG COS III Radiate head r., with globe at point of bust. Rev. S – C Roma seated l. on cuirass, holding Victory and parazonium; behind, shields. In exergue, ROMA I liked the portrait of Vespasian on this coin -- he appears a bit sterner and more imperious than most other portraits of him. I also like the ROMA reverse, which I also have on my Nero aureus. Both the obverse and reverse suffer a bit from what appears to be a flat strike; although the detail is still good in most areas, the high spots are a little flat implying that the flan just didn't fill the die when struck. Here's a comparison of the other Vespasian portraits in my 12 Caesars collection: It's an interesting collection of portraits.
I agree with RG. The portrait on the new coin is the best of the group, but I would take any one of the them. Very nice.
Like everyone else has said, the latest dupondius has a great portrait. Imperious is the perfect word.
A question from one with very few high grade coins in his collection: What is the purpose of the 'extra' dots on some of these coins? The sestertius has a central reverse layout dot used to layout the circle of dots and the legends. That one I understand. The aureus has three pimples in the field between Neptune and the E of RED. The dupondius reverse has dots above the Victory, left of the S and below the O of ROMA. On the photos, they look like coin metal rather than deposits. Any theories?
I like the progression of portraits - it's very interesting to see how the emperor ages, even in just his 10 year reign.
I really like the image and detail on the Judea Capta reverse on that sestertius. The power and glory of Rome! captured in an image...pun intended.
Here is my Vespasian Dupondius without laureate bust to the left. This coin used to be allocated to Commagene. Based on new reseach results, it the mint is now thought to be Rome. BTW, the coin is my only coin that I have for more than two decades. I bought it for 2100 Deutsche Mark in 1989, which was a lot of money at this time. before : after : after , different image:
It's a gorgeous coin, Ides. I see what you mean by the slightly flat strike on the reverse, but it's so minimal as to be inconsequential. What an ambitious set of 12 Caesars!
What was removed with the acetone? Have you been able to distinguish between material applied to improve the coin in the market and material accumulated naturally in 2000 years of existence? I'm not seeing a difference between 'before' and the second 'after' that does not appear to be more the photograph rather than the coin.
I second Doug's question because I have some larger bronzes that appear to have been waxed. I've wondered if an acetone bath would remove the wax, but I'm afraid it would also strip the coin of any natural patina and/or deposits. And is the wax necessarily a bad thing? I'm no stranger to acetone - I've used it on modern coins of little value, and it works wonders. But it definitely belongs in the category of harsh chemical cleaning.
Well, maybe, I am leaving a slightly wrong impression since I am always talking only about acetone. You have to put the bronzes into both acetone and benzine. I am not quite sure what was removed at the Vespasian. They are using all kinds of stuff when applying an artificial "grease patina" layer. Maybe, in case of the Vespasian, it was black shoe tube and this usually flakes off rather with benzine than with acetone. Shoe tube is containing wax pigments, which cannot be solved via acetone. Yes, but there are exceptions - you cannot detect spots where oxides have been applied. No solvent will restore the original surface. Nevertheless, one should mention that the fraud that can be committed with oxides is not worth mentioning if it is used on genuine coins. Maybe, you can conceal the so called blinkers but you cannot fill unsightly corrosion pits since you can only apply oxides flimsy. The Vespasian definitely became more shiny. Maybe, this becomes apparent rather in hand than on the photo. Usually, even the details become more crisp when removing the "grease patina". The decisive reason herefore is that "grease patina" is applied in order to make the coins' surfaces look more smooth in order to conceal surface roughness or serious patina problems. This means that that they have to apply something that is actually filling. Unfortunately, the "grease" is not only filling the pits and cracks but is also creeping for instance in the gaps of the figures or between the hair strands, which is making the details look dull. You are very right. Acetone only helps for lacquering, olive oil, or maybe earwax. In case of proper wax or shoe tube, you need to put the bronze in benzine since acetone is not solving wax. It depends on what they wanted to conceal with the wax. I had bronzes painted with shoe tube because they simply wanted to conceal dirt! That might sound a bit far-fetched but please consider that most bronzes in trade are cleaned by hobby archeologists who are lacking any knowledge how to expose the coin mechanically. And of course, before damaging a coin via improper, mechanical or even chemical cleaning you had better seal and conserve it with something you clearly know from your shoe tube set. Nevertheless, wax or other "grease patina" layers are verifiably also used for fraudulent reasons in order to conceal serious problems of a bronze. Ugly corrosion pits can seriously decrease the value of a coin. Filling these pits with pigmented wax and subsequently painting the whole surface will allow the bronze appear in a new light. A honest but unsightly 500 EUR sestertius will turn into a 5000 EUR gem being for some hours in the hand of a skillful restorer. Being duped with such a genuine coin, will let in you the wish arise to have purchased a fake, which you might be able to return. BTW, lots of the well-done counterfeits' fake patinas are comprising wax in order to imitate a thick layer of metal salts depositions that has grown away from the metal. Oxids can only pretend very flimsy patinas.
Very interesting, Marc, and disturbing. I will start a new thread to ask you for advice about a couple of my coins, so as not to hijack Ides' thread.
