The other coin from today's show that came with a surprise was this Philippopolis AE28 of Septimius Severus with Hercules reverse. I also found that the coin was on acsearch but this one was no bargain unless you count the fact that I paid no buyer's fee and the last buyer did. This one was described as 'good green patina' by its Major Player seller but it is obvious that the surfaces are good and polished. They were unable to take a good photo and so far I have failed as well. I'm too tired to work on it tonight. It is dark green with an extreme shine and many very small scratches. Considering it sold below estimate by a seller known for high prices, I suspect people who might want the coin saw that the surfaces were polished. This one looks very nice in hand unless you get too close. What I like most is the rendition of the lionskin but getting that to show well in the photo may take even more work than the shine. This photo was made with a ringlight making it look less than natural. What you see here is green glare. I knew it would be hard to photograph and that it was polished. I did not know that a Major dealer could call that situation 'good'.
You may not like the image, but I think you did an outstanding job. And you were right about the lion skin. It's a magnificent depiction IMHO.
I'm still working on it. Some coins get photographed a dozen times before I give up trying to capture the look that seems to match what I see in hand. This one still has the ring but adds a diffuse directional light from the top to add glare. The shine of the coin always shows glare in hand so the question is how much is enough to capture the idea but not wreck the details. Portrait photographers do the same thing when shooting those of us who are more full of character than revealed on the standard passport photo. The color on this one is much more accurate but it is still lighter than I might like. Some coins photograph accurately the first time; some don't.
I think the second photo is better. I can imagine what it looks like in hand, and I think it's a marvelous coin, regardless the polishing.
Oh my God => I love the reverse!! (is that a panther, or The Nemean lion?) => either way, "awesome" (top of my wish-list) Love the pose => Herakles looks likes he's the Big League Batting Champ ... shame about the groin injury (unfortunate spot for a lathe-mark)
In popular mythology we hear of only one lion: Nemean. Digging deeper, I find mention of a lion of Cithaeron killed previously and used as a protective garment by Hercules. How are we to tell if a snapshot of Hercules is before or after he killed the Nemean if he had other lion garments? Its beyond me. On coins we see depictions of the killing of the Nemean as the first of the labors but the other eleven are more rarely shown. I'm not sure you can get a full set. I have only one labor: the Nemean as shown on a Republican denarius and diobols of Taras. We see many coins with Hercules standing around but few actually laboring. The Nemean has a hide impervious to arrows and knives. To skin it, Hercules had to use one of the lion's own claws. On these coin, Hercules appears nude while wrestling. I assume he was not wearing a lesser lionskin that day and would expect he would later prefer the bulletproof one so consider it reasonable to assume all feline items shown on the coins are the Nemean lion unless you can find a picture of him wrestling the Nemean while wearing a lionskin. I did but it is Indian and not on a coin. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemean...hercules_and_the_nemean_lion,_1st_century.JPG A panther would turn him into a Dionysos impersonator. Do we need to take care not to take the details of our myths too seriously? Yes, we do.
