Hello, This is my first time posting on Coin Talk. The attached pictures are of what I think is a Roman coin. I got it a decade ago from an old collector who I met by chance. I purchased about 40 of his world coin duplicates and he offered me this coin for a low price. I don't collect Roman or Greek coins, so any information about this coin would be greatly appreciated. Thank you........Al
It seems to be a sestertius of Marcus Aurelius, judging from the portrait, though it would be useful if you told us its diameter and its weight. In particular, I think it might be RIC 1037 or something similar (I'm not an expert in this time period): (Photo from Wildwinds)
I'd work on taking care of the green spots to prevent further oxidation and corrosion. I'd recommend neutralizing the green areas with Verdi-Care but this product is elusive and difficult to find, unfortunately. The coin otherwise looks to be nicely preserved with a good patina and pleasant wear.
I see nothing worth trying to clean. While not high grade, this is better than 90% of the coins we see here posted by people with only one ancient coin. If you do not already know him, Marcus Aurelius is worth looking up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Aurelius
I agree with Doug. That coin is cleaned and display-ready. It is very attractive with the faint light green "glow" around the details. As for the green spots, they are almost certainly small hard bits of malachite. Under a magnifying glass they should look like tiny bits of green bottle glass stuck to the surface. If so, they are entirely harmless. You should poke some vigorously with a toothpick or bamboo BBQ skewer to make sure that are not soft. But these malachite bits are extremely common on second century sestertii. SC
Welcome to Coin Talk. That's a very nice sestertius - I agree with the others that it looks great as-is. When I first started collecting bronze ancients not too long ago, I was initially put off by what I saw as "corrosion" on so many of them. After a while though, I've really come to like the splendid colors that sometimes happen.
@AG_NYC , welcome to CoinTalk. As others have noted, it is a coin of Marcus Aurelius. The ancients often used the same design on coins of different sizes and denominations, which explains why our members ask about its diameter (which you can't tell from an internet image) in order to identify it precisely. I hope you consider getting a few more ancient coins. My web site for beginners: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/numis/ has a link to a list of places to buy ancient coins: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/dealers.html I think all of them are reputable. I keep track of dealers who sell too many fakes and if I hear about a dealer like that that dealer would not be on that list.
What Valentinian says is quite true but there is a tendency for sestertii of this period to have edges that are squared off a bit while asses are more likely to round over with less of a chiseled look. This is by no means a certain thing with some showing the difference more than others. As of Antoninus Pius Sestertius of Antoninus Pius Also, sestertii seem a lot more likely to show flans with at least one side that looks cut rather than poured. I have no explanation other than the flan prep process was different for the two. Could this have to do with the difference in melting point for the different alloys? Sestertius of Faustina II As of Faustina II I'm not saying I can call these from photos but this is a minor difference that I see more often than not. Does this work for others with several coins of this period?
