Featured What is a "CircCam", you ask? Look and see! And post yours!

I've long been a fan of original grey-toned circulated silver with a "two-tone" look that provides contrast between darker fields and lighter devices. Most of you probably know what a "Cameo" proof coin is, right? A coin with deeply mirrored fields and frosty portrait or devices?

Well, a "Circulation Cameo" is an entirely different thing, but the same principle, really. It is a darker toned coin that got lighter highlights as an effect of light rub on the higher portions of the design, giving it a sort of "cameo" contrast, though not in the same way as a proof, of course, since we're talking about circulated coins.

I wanted a good shorthand term to describe this look, so I came up with "Circulation Cameo", or "CircCam", for short. This term gained some acceptance on the PCGS/Collectors Universe boards, and I've seen members there adopt it and even use it in their eBay descriptions.

Now, I could go on and on about this, but the best way to further describe the look is to post some examples.

(2023 edit: let me add this 1799 dollar to the top of this post, since it so ideally epitomizes the CircCam look.)



This is a CircCam. Rather dark, to be sure, but the coin was not that brown looking in hand after I bought it from these images. It was a perfect grey CircCam. A lot of this stuff might be too dark for some people's tastes, but I like me a good "black-n'-white" CircCam. I'm not a fan of completely-dark silver, but when you've got the contrast to make the design elements "pop", it's a good thing.




A little more subtle, perhaps, but still a CircCam:




Classic CircCam all the way. Not the best pictures, though (these are scans).




A nice CircCam half.



And a dollar.




Though it's tougher to find them without straying into "environmental damage" territory, you can find copper CircCams, too.




This Indian cent looks enviro-damaged and porous in the photos, but it had nice surfaces when examined in hand. I found it a totally acceptable CircCam for one of my old type sets, and it was cheap, too.




In hand, this Trade dollar, despite a small rim nick, was as nice a CircCam as I had seen in a long time.




An ancient bronze CircCam! (Actually struck in orichalcum, a sort of brass).




And yes, there are gold CircCams, too, sometimes. This on a medieval hammered gold piece.




I think you see what I'm talking about, now.

Post some of yours!

 

And then you have my spinoff term, applied to ancient bronze with "sandy", "earthen" or "desert" patina, that have a similar contrasting look between the fields and design devices (this usually as a result of the cleaning and conservation process after the coins were excavated). I affectionately refer to these as "DirtCams".

Here is a Seleucid AE18 of Antiochus IX, featuring Eros and Nike. I am about to buy it from a forum member.



I have had a lot of "DirtCams". I think I'll start a separate thread about them over on the Ancients board.

 

Oho!

My old CU contacts are able to sneak up on me over here (after hiding in plain sight) when they've been incognito behind a different username!

 

@Cascade- I know how weird it sounds, but I actually prefer circulated Morgan dollars with that look to bright MS coins a lot of the time. I like 'em in VG-F-VF with CircCam contrast.

Maybe. I don't remember. I just realized "Scottishmoney" must be a CU member I knew under a different username. We do find megalodon teeth here, and lots of other kinds.

 

Very cool. Not a "DirtCam" like the ones I posted, but it does sorta follow along the CircCam lines, in a different way.

 

@okbustchaser- that's a classic black-n'-white CircCam!

@paddyman98 - I never would have thought of a steel CircCam, but I suppose that could be considered one.

@SuperDave - 'nother nice one!

 

@physics-fan3.14 - it is blatantly obvious to me that you totally "get it" when it comes to CircCams. Those are as nice as they come. I daresay they quickened my pulse a bit. I'm a World coin guy first and foremost, but when I do US coins, that's the sort of material which appeals most to me.

@Evan8- that is a very handsome ZAR piece. I can tell in the second photo that it has that perfect look for a circulated piece of silver.