As some of you may know, I'm currently finishing up my senior undergraduate thesis on the Roman lead tesserae. I decided to experimentally cast my own, to determine a few things. If nothing else, I've developed a newfound appreciation for the ancient celators. And I was only working with the crudest types! (These are actually very close in style to the originals, see my gallery for more)
That is very cool. There are probably very few people around today who would even know how to do that. It kind of gives a sence of what the coins and stuff might have looked like new, not with 2000 years (give or take) of aging on them, as well.
Way to go Ardatirion :bow: Would like to see the results when you have had some practice at it :thumb: Can I sugest that you take a wonder to a local craft shop and see what is available Ie clay for the molds
Thank you for sharing this! A. In 1000 years Ardatirion’s coins may be cataloged as the rare cast lead tesserae patterns of a previously unknown Roman era civilization. B. You could re-sell them as fishing weights.
I have some stuff called casting clay, its used by jewlers and its much like regular clay so you might be able to get a cleaner image, all the same, very cool
Thanks for the advice. But everything worked out well enough using an approximation of ancient techniques, so I think I'll just finish up like this. I got 4.5 ounces of lead yesterday, so I'll try to cast more of these on Sunday.
