Here Comes the Sun/Let the Sunshine In

And I say it's all right! I took a photo of this sestertius in full sunlight to bring out the patina:


Faustina II, AD 147-175.
Roman oricalchum sestertius, 22.36 gm, 33.7 mm, 12 h.
Rome, AD 160.
Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: FECVND AVGVSTAE S C, (Faustina as) Fecunditas standing left, between two children (thought to represent Faustina III and Lucilla), holding two infants in her arms (thought to represent Commodus and Antoninus).
Refs: RIC 1635; BMCRE 902-904; Cohen 96; Strack 1336; RCV 5273; MIR 10.

So let the sunshine in!



Let's see your coins you photographed in sunlight!

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Amazing patina! Looks like jade.

 

Olive patina for bronze, Always, if you can get it. Remembering how, when I got my first Marcus Aurelius, as a kid (an as; nothing to write home about, except that), my uncle characterized bronze as 'the noble metal.' And, Yes, @Roman Collector, your example is one of the finest I've ever seen....
Hmm. I wonder if that's why, for silver (including medieval), I like there to be plenty of toning, as "authentic" as possible. (Granted, as my uncle would say, that's effectively a one-word oxymoron. ...In any number of contexts.)
...Except, once you get this deep into the esthetics, metal is Supposed to age, and ancient metal is Supposed to Look it.

 

Actually, I photograph all my coins in bright sunlight. You can see the shadows cast by the posts that they are sitting on in my photos:
http://feltemp.com/Emperors/Emperors_Page1.html
http://feltemp.com/Constantine_1.html

 

same coin, different patina:

 

Here's one:

Herennia Etruscilla, (249-251 A.D.)
Wife of Trajan Decius

AE 28 of Viminacium, 14.2 grams

Obverse: HER ETRVSCILLA AVG, draped bust right, in stephane

Reverse: PMS COL VIM, female figure (Provincia Moesia) standing, facing left, between bull and lion, AN XII in exergue

Reference: BMC 32

 

Goodness gracious! AMAZING coin in any light RC!!! And that patina
I really like natural light for bronze.


Am I the only one who has a harder time with silver in natural light?

 

You might try putting your silver coins against a dark background when you photograph them.

 

Thank you for making me go outside!

 

Dark, on my monitor. Post-processing can help. Great coin:

 

What a smooth & beautiful glowing green! The sunlight really brought it out.

All of my older images are sunlit, taken with an old iPhone. Here are a couple: