Five weeks ago I won the Roman provincial bronze coin pictured below from a Heritage weekly auction. It was struck in Anazarbus, Cilicia, 31mm, 20.40 gm, & came in this NGC slab. When I opened the envelope the first thing I noticed was the color of the coin didn't resemble the Heritage photos . I "cracked the slab" & photographed it in natural sun light & got an accurate color of the coin, see photos below.
It's a lovely coin. Heritage's colors for bronze coins always seem to be off, particularly in print catalogs. The color descriptions are accurate though. Examples from lot viewing at CICF 2016: Notice the written description does say "green patina". I wonder why they choose to process the colors this way or otherwise fail to represent the true colors. We've had discussions before about accuracy of photography. Apparently they have different photo protocols for print auctions vs. e-auctions. This Syracuse bronze from the same auction also had a brown patina in the catalog but the written description of color was accurate: SICILY, Syracuse. Dionysius I (400-345 BC) Æ 20 mm, 8.23 gm Struck c. 390 BCE Obv: head of Athena left, wearing wreathed Corinthian helmet pushed back on head Rev: hippocamp left Ref: Calciati 35. SNG ANS 426
I've noticed CNG in particular tends to desaturate their images, particularly when it comes to bronzes, in ways that often leave you surprised when you receive the actual coins: Roman Republic Æ As(27mm, 11.12g, 4h), D. Junius Silanus, moneyer, 91 BC, Rome mint. Laureate head of bearded Janus; I above/Prow of galley right; D•SILANVS•L•[F]. Below, ROMA. Crawford 337/5 Ex Andrew McCabe Collection, CNG E-Auction 436, 1/23/2019, ex Artemide Capodanno, 1/1/2010 Bronzes often have such beautiful patinas and it's a shame to see them photographed in ways that result in the loss of these details.
TIF, The Sicilian bronze coin is handsome, with a smooth even patina. The hippocamp die is stunning . Sicilian numismatic art has no equal, from the tiny bronze coins to the large silver dekadrachms .
red spork, That's a lovely early Roman bronze with a handsome milk chocolate patina. You're right about their photographs too, not only on bronze coins but silver coins also. The coin pictured below came from a CNG E-auction, it's a tet of Otacilia, from the Michel Prieur collection & pictured in McAlee's book, #1096. The CNG photo has most of the color bleached out; my photos show the true color.
I have gotten used to CNG's photos. When I was new to CNG I could not believe the difference between their photos and mine. My photo shows how the coin actually looks in hand. CNG My photo
