Two of the (many) aspects of coin collecting I enjoy are sceatta's, and cleaning encrusted silver coins. Today, I had the joy to combine both aspects: This is a sceatta from the series R, minted in the East of current England. As can be seen, both the obverse and reverse were encrusted, with what I believed was horn silver (silver chloride; AgCl), and expected the coin to be of good silver. The cleaning procedure was similar to my earlier posts, where I outlined how to remove horn silver without damaging the underlying 'true' silver or, in some cases, without damaging the patina. In short: I immersed the coin in a solution a weak solution of boiling water and sodium thiosulphate, and the coin immediately turned black (which is a good sign, as this indicates that there is indeed AgCl present, and reacting with sodium thiosulphate). Then, I gently scrubbed the coin with a soft brush, followed by poking the thickest encrustations with a bamboo skewer. I then repeated this method five or six times, until this: EARLY MEDIEVAL, Anonymous. Denomination: AR Sceatta (Serie R), minted: England; Obv: Abstract head to the right; before: EPA (runic legend), behind three annulets. Rev: Standard with central annulet, cross above. Inside < > /\ Weight: 0.94g; Ø:12mm. Catalogue: . Provenance: ; acq.: 11-2020 Some close-ups: Before cleaning, the coin weighted 0.97g; so it lost 0.03g in the process. Though some small spots of encrustation remain (e.g. in the legend on the obverse, a small patch on the 'chin', and a bit on the reverse, I'm quite happy with how it turned out.
Yesterday, I received my 27th sceatta from DNW: an uncleaned series D bmc type 2c. It was misattributed as a bust to the right, which is relatively common. Instead, it is a bust to the left. It hammered at 60 GBP, which is relatively cheap (€120 including premium, VAT and shipping - in this condition I would happily have paid €150-175). This was the photo from DNW (the obverse is flipped upside down; the reverse is usually rotated 270 degrees). This was my photo, which was a bit more true to the colour: A close up from the obverse shows a combination of silver chloride depositions in combination with a thin layer of dirt: I then soaked it shortly in a strong boiling solution of sodium thiosulphate: And the coin in al its glory. I'm very happy how it turned out (in this condition, I would gladly pay 200-250€) EARLY MEDIEVAL, Anonymous. Denomination: AR Sceatta (Serie D, BMC 2c), minted: Frisia; Primary phase Obv: Abstract head to the left, runic EPA to the left (largely off-flan) Rev: Cross-pommee with garbled legend around; above a cross. Weight: 1.33g; Ø:11mm. Catalogue: No die match in Metcalf and Op den Velde, The Monetary Economy of the Netherlands, c. 690 - c. 715 and the Trade with England: A Study of the Sceattas of Series D. (JMP 2003). Provenance: Ex. DNW 03-11-2020, lot 8; acq.: 11-2020
Great cleaning job! And good to see you can spot the difference between bust left or right. To my untrained eyes, there's no bust at all
Thanks @Limes! I can imagine ... these Frisian imitations can be quite abstract. To help a bit: what you see is a bust, with a crown (dotted border on top indicates the start of the crown; usually you'll see a VVVV pattern) and drapery (dotted border below). So, between those dotted border, you'll have to look for a face: - the eye is indicated by a large dot - the nose is close to the eye, and indicated with a larger oval dot - the ear is a bit to the right, and indicated with a ) See it?
