A Little Colour on Your Silver

I don't actively look for silver coins with iridescent toning and generally prefer a medium-gray tone, but I have to admit liking the blues and subtle gold around the devices on this coin. I didn't pay extra for the colours, or at least I don't think I did.

Do you like colour on your silver coins? Show your favorites in whichever shade of ROYGBIV they come in.


ROMAN REPUBLIC
C. Annius T.f. T.n and L. Fabius L.f. Hispaniensis
AR Denarius
3.82g, 18.8mm
Northern Italian or Spanish mint, 82-81 BC
Crawford 366/1b; Sydenham 748a; RSC Annia 2
O: C.ANNI.T.F.T.N.PRO.COS.EX.S.C, draped bust of Anna Perenna right, wearing stephane; winged caduceus to left, scales to right, plough below neck.
R: L.FABI.L.F.HISP, Victory driving quadriga right, holding palm and reins; Q and dot above horses.

Side note: I gave this coin to my father today; it's his 74th birthday. He's not a coin collector, though he's always enjoyed collecting 'stuff', and I thought this one was appropriate given that Anna Perenna was the Roman goddess of longevity and renewal. Her sacred grove was at the first milestone of the Via Flaminia, and on her feast day on the Ides of March, people would gather to make merry by the moonlight, drinking wine and wishing each other a long life .

 

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@ Zumbly - I love the toning on (silver) coins. My fav. coins are from Trajan, (see Avatar), and here is one that has a 'blue' tinge to it that I really enjoy. It is more spectacular in 'hand' than in photograph, but here goes . . . . . .



(Note:- T.I.F. has some spectacular ones.)

 

That's a very sweet pickup, Z-Bro ... oh, and that was nice of you to give it to your Dad (that's a cool idea)



Hmmm, I'm pretty sure that I must have a few colourful babes laying around here somewhere ...

 

I do love toning, especially when it is iridescent and in the low spots surrounding the devices-- like a aura .

Here are a few with such toning:


SICILY, Selinos
Circa 410 BCE
AR litra, 11mm, 0.76 g, 1h
Obv: nymph seated left on rock, right hand raised above her head, extending her left hand to touch coiled serpent before her; selinon leaf above
Rev: man-faced bull standing right; ΣEΛINONTIOΣ above; in exergue, fish right
Ref: HGC 2, 1229; SNG ANS 711–2 var. (ethnic); SNG Ashmolean 1904–5; SNG Lloyd 1270 var. (same); Basel –; Dewing –; Rizzo pl. XXXIII, 6.
ex MoneyMuseum, Zurich;
ex Leu 79 (31 October 2000), lot 404;
ex Athos Moretti collection, #482, unpublished manuscript.


A Roman Republican I hadn't previously shown. I'll post the details this weekend


Roman Republic, L. Postumius
131 BCE
AR denarius, 19 x 21 mm, 3.8 gm
Obv: helmeted head of Roma right; flamen's cap behind
Rev: Mars in quadriga right; L POSTA R; ROMA in exergue
Ref: Sydenham 472?
This coin was in a large mixed lot. At first I didn't like it but I've grown to appreciate it now. The reverse details are very good! Needs a reshoot.


Roman Republic
moneyer L. Julius L. f. Caesar, 103 BC
AR denarius, 17mm, 3.9 gm
Obv: Helmeted head of Mars left; CAESAR; ・J above
Rev: Venus Genetrix in chariot left, drawn by two Cupids; lyre to left; ・J above
Ref: Crawford 320/1
Jencek E-auction 26, lot 58, 14 October 2014. Ex CNG XXXI lot 699, September 1994; ex RBW Collection
One of my favorite coins


SIKYONIA, Sikyon
335-330 BCE
AR stater, 23 mm, 12.3 gm
Obv: Chimera standing left; wreath above, ΣE below
Rev: Dove flying left; A to left; all within wreath
Ref: BCD Peloponnesos 220; Traité III 775, pl. CCXX, 11
Ex "collection of a Southern Pathologist, purchased from C.H. Wolfe, 3 May 1989"


KINGS OF MACEDON, Philip II. 356-36 BCE
AR tetradrachm. 24mm, 14.20 gm, 12h
Lifetime issue of Pella, 342-336 BCE
Obv: Laureate head of Zeus right
Rev: ΦIΛIΠ-ΠOY, youth, holding palm and reins, on horseback right, thunderbolt below, N in exergue
Ref: Le Rider 222-306. SNG ANS 385-95
Formerly slabbed, NGC Choice VF 5/5 - 3/5, Fine Style.
ex Colosseo Collection


EUBOIA, Eretria
357-267 BCE
AR drachm, 18 mm, 3.1 gm
Obv: head of nymph Eretria left
Rev: head of bull facing, fillets from horns, EY above, satyr's head facing in right field
Ref: Wallace pl. XI, cf 126.
ex Frank James Collection
ex BCD Collection

 

Wow Z! Thats a coin I find very appealing.

 

I can definitely see the blue tint of the dark patina. Often, it is helpful to tilt the coin towards the light source, causing the colored patina to reflect back to the lens. I bet if you played around with the lighting direction and tilt you could bring this out a bit better.

 

@stevex6 and @TIF, I've seen all those beauties of yours before, but love seeing them altogether. Really kind of... trippy?

 

Silver tones beautifully on most coins. Most definitely a beautifully toning on yours.

 

I never tire of your coins T.I.F - especially the 'toned' ones. Thank-you for sharing them. (I shall take your 'tip' on board for my next photographic session.)

 

My Severina CONCORDIAE MILITVM is looking pretty toned too:



Sorry, I've lost my notes on this one...but she's a babe.

 

I made the above group for my WabiSabi page shoing the range from blast white to black silver coins. Most unusual is probably the red Hadrian. I do not suggest paying extra for tones. Many tend to gray out in a few years. I have seen some really colorful silvers that I believe to have been assisted chemically and also believe that these will change.

 

That is a very good point. Toning changes over time; sometimes rapidly if not protected against exposure/sulfur.

It's a risk when I get so attached to the toning of a coin because the toning should be assumed to be an ongoing process. Hopefully some of my favorite toners will not change significantly in my lifetime, but you never know...

 

Sorry Z-Bro, but I felt a need to toss-in these two colourful troopers ... sure, maybe they don't quite belong with the other "iridescent" examples, but I'm curious ...

=> Ummm, do you think that colourful patina will also eventually fade and/or turn black in the end of days?





... oh, say it ain't so!! (although I'm pretty sure that "everything" eventually turns back into soil)

 

Great idea to gift your dad with such a beautiful and interesting coin coin.
But goddess of longevity having her feast day on Ides of Marchh...I would ask Julius Caesar what he thinks of that

The following has a medium grey colour but a pinkish tone comes over time that is more visible with the coin in hand (and the picture has been taken some years ago now)


Augustus, Denarius struck in Lyon c.12 BC
AUGUSTUS DIVI F, Bare head of Augustus right
IMP X, Bull butting right
3.77 gr
Ref : RCV #1610, Cohen #137

Q

 

Sweet Bull, Q



... ummm, but I'm a bit curious what that object is top-left-reverse? (it looks a bit like an old microphone from a David Letterman show?)

 

A bull's tail maybe ?


Q

 

Last one is a fouree of Nerva

 

ahahaha .... oh yah, you could be right, eh? (man, that's a long tail!!)

 

I don't know what future ages has in store for those coins, Steve, but sure hope that A-Pi doesn't change... definitely one of my favorite coins in your collection!