Ancient Roman ring - Looking for any additional info (I'm pasting this same intro into all my first posts to level set. Thanks for your patience) ----------------- Hello all, I'm new here. Please be kind So I recently found out about auctions for ancient coins and artifacts. I've mostly just been buying things that feel interesting or give me a good feeling (everything I'm posting I already own at the price I list). I have always loved archeology and history, and also been a minor coin collector since childhood. I'm not really collecting as an investment, more as a form of time travel. I just love touching and holding these objects and imagining who may have held it when it was newer. Having some kind of historical context to these objects is what I am mostly after. Also, I am strongly interested in attempting to restore everything to as close to what it looked like when it was new(er). I don't want to destroy anything, but I also do want to be "aggressive" in the restoration efforts in an attempt to do so. ----------------- So with this (potentially real) coin ($61) I'm looking for 1. Any info you all might think about it. a. The only description was "AE As. RIC82. Divine Augustus/Eagle VF Struck 34-37 AD - AUGUSTUS POSTHUMOUS ISSUE UNDER TIBERIUS" b. It seems to be in good shape. c. I read this is commonly faked so I'm concerned. 2. Best advice to attempt to restore it. a. Does it look like any of this "bronze disease" I've read about? b. Is it possible to restore this to look closer to new? Thank you for reading and I really do appreciate your time and look forward to learning more and being part of your community. All the best, JJ Walker
Welcome to the forum. In the future, consider spacing your posts out a little bit more - only so many posts show up on the front page of the ancients forum here, so every one of these posts is knocking someone else's post off the page and it's generally considered bad form to post so many at once and take up so much "real estate". Don't worry too much about it this time though, you had no way of knowing, just something to think about in the future. As far as your coin here, I'm not a collector of Roman Imperial coins but I do think you have identified it correctly and it does appear to be authentic to me. That said, I do not think you should "restore" it. This coin has already been cleaned as well as it is going to clean up and whoever previously cleaned it was smart to stop when they did. The thing to realize about many of these ancient coins, especially bronze coins, is that by the time you get down to that original shiny metal you've gone just a bit too far because some of the reactions that happen at the surface change the metal of the coin, so the patina on a bronze coin is a mixture of compounds from the ground and the original metal of the coin. It's really hard to be sure from the photos, but at first glance your coin for instance appears to have some red encrustations in addition to darkened original metal and those red encrustations rarely reveal nice surfaces below. If you did manage to get this coin down to that shiny metal you'd likely wind up with an ugly, pitted mess, so it is best to leave the patina on. Additionally, overcleaned bronze coins seem to be very susceptible to bronze disease. I'm sure someone more experienced with cleaning or treating coins for it can explain why this is but it seems like that is a common theme with coins that develop BD.
Your coin looks good to me. Nice 1st century! If you make your coin look "new"again, you will have removed the patina, which is both enhancing and protective. You will also have reduced its value and desirability. I would definitely not attempt to clean it any further. All of your aspirations of enjoying the history of the coin and bonding with the past can easily be achieved with the coin you have currently in front of you.
The coin does not have bronze disease, and I have no reason to suspect that it might develop it in the future. When you talk about restoring coins, you need to distinguish between removing stuff that does not belong there, such as dirt and corrosion, and stuff--the patina--that does belong there. When you are removing the patina to make your coin bright and shiny, you are actually removing part of the coin's surface. So your attempt to make it appear as close to its original appearance as possible is actually doing the opposite by removing part of the coin.
This is great. Thank you all. I'm excited to join this group. I first found another forum and really didn't like the vibe there. The site seemed to really be focused on selling thing and everyone was so prickly. Very happy to be here.
I like this site as well, just beware not to become the "ID HELP" spammer type... as after a while most folks will gloss over your posts. That being said, you are enthusiastic and do your research, and we all appreciate that!
Thanks Earl! Luckily I only have 10 out of like 40 that I need ID help with. The rest I bought fully attributed and would just post to show off
