Just Another Constantinople Commem, Yawn (Not Quite)

I'm not sure if all of these Cons and Roma commems were silvered, but in my limited collecting experience, they seem rare. Perhaps the silvering was so light that it didn't stand much circulation, or the erosion of time.

At any rate, I've had my eye on this coin for some time and finally pulled the trigger this morning. Not only does it have an abundance of silvering left, but the silvering is toned to an attractive gold color - not to mention the strong strike and centering. It all added up to a "must have" coin for me as an aficionado of LRB's.

It comes from our friend Dionysos, who takes very accurate images of his coins, so I'm reasonably certain this is what it looks like. I'm not so much interested in the color, actually, as I am with the fact that it has so much silvering intact.

 

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I do believe they were lightly silvered John as I just bought a couple London mint basically as struck examples with silvering intact. usually for these you need to get very high grade for any silvering to ever be left.

 

I wonder if all the mints were silvering these coins, and if so, were they using the same techniques? For instance, I've never seen a silvered example from Alexandria. Does that mean they weren't doing it, or none of the silvering survived?

 

I rarely see any with silvering on them. This one is hearty. Nice addition, John.

 

Lovely coin. Centered and well struck. With or without silvering, the coin is highly desirable. I love the detail on the reverse. When the face of Victory is visible, you know you have a nice coin.

 

Thanks guys. Within a week, I have acquired two of these, the earlier coin being this one of Alexandria. Today's "high-end" version cost ten times as much as the coin from Alexandria, but I'm not sure which one I prefer, so it's lucky for me I own both.

Compare the tall, lean style of this engraving work to the OP coin from Trier...

 

very nice coin John A.

congrads,

eric

 

By the way, a few days ago, May 11, marked the 1685th anniversary of Constantinople's dedication in AD 330 as the new Roman capitol, by Constantine I.

Feel free to post any interesting coins you may have associated with this city. Those of us who collect Romans no doubt have a drawer full of coins minted in Constantinople, so just pick a few favorites.

 

seller doinysos from Vcoins?

 

I don't know if he has a vcoins store, Eric. He goes by Dionysos on this forum, with an eBay store - coin.ages.

 

indeed sharp pictures in hand.

 

Really Beautiful Con-Comm coin JA---especially if you compare it to the one I have (not minted at Constantinople, but Heraclea)....

 

I see two questions neither of which I know an answer. Were all mints following the same recipe for silvering? Were some mints in some periods just better at it or did they have a trick? We have demonstrated before the large number of Heraclea campgates with silver remaining. I'd say any Commemorative with any silver is an unusual coin but I still believe all originally were washed. My opinion has been that the Phoenix coins of the FEL TEMP series were not washed but everything before that since the post reform fractions were discontinued had been. It would be a service to the hobby if someone would examine every coin that was seen by the authors of RIC VI to IX and every coin since discovered noting which ones had as little as a trace of retained plating. That would be a huge task.

 

Silvering or not that is a very nice piece JA. Wow awesome coin..

Add on, i was just looking at my wolf coin and seems to have good silvering on it..

 

Yes, and another coin from Trier. Coincidence?

 

sharp LRB JA...the color is great as well, haven't seen one quite like it.

 

Hey JA => congrats on a very cool addition (I've always loved that OP-coin ... yah, I've often stopped and thought about it whenever I'd wander through Batman's coin-site)

I like both of your new Commemorative additions (well done => good coin-hunting)

I have an example too ...

... ummm, this could certainly be my most frequently posted coin?

 

This coin arrived today, and although I'm quite pleased to own it, it does pose some questions. This is a true-color photo, and the silvering looks very much like gold gilt. Is it the original silvering that has toned? (I've had modern silver coins tone to a uniform gold.) Was it gilded in antiquity, or if not gilded, then plated with an alloy that intentionally mimicked gold? Or was it gilded much later? Is it from jewelery? - I don't see any signs of it being mounted in anything.

None of this is a criticism - every collection of ancient coins is going to have a few mysteries.

 

Plated or gilded after the fact or not, that's a sharp coin!

 

I'm guessing a handful of these were gilded in antiquity to present to dignitaries, in celebration of the new Roman capitol. They are extremely rare and this is the finest known example. Yeaaaaah - that's the ticket!