What's your favorite color/type of AE patina?

Mine's blue or aqua. Also glossy apple green or deep green.

I read somewhere over the years that the blue/aqua ones tend to come from the Balkans.

What's your favorites?

 

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I don't have more than a small handful of (under-)representative Julio-Claudian and Antonine AEs, but for those, especially, I've always found the deep olive patinas the most compelling. ...I wonder if part of that is about how most of the statues of the period end up that way. At any rate, for me, on an almost prearticulate level, it imparts some kind of extra dimension of monumentality to the coins, too. ...Especially for my one, prized sestertius of Marcus Aurelius ...for which, Drat, I don't have any pics.

 

Dark green & sand patina.

And I don't mean a certain sellers "Revlon" patina either.

 

I know the feeling. The great majority of my best patinas aren't photographed.

My dad got me a Nero with a deep olive patina. It was the experimental small design of the mid 60's. I'd have to look it up; a dupondius?

The coin itself isn't in high grade, but I bought a Hadrian Sestertius with a mottled apple green patina, from a small coin show.

Before the edit button disappears, were there any colors which I forgot?

 

I looove glossy, chocolate patinas on Alexandrian Drachms of Hadrian.

I probably have a red one somewhere, although not the spectacular red of one in Le Preziose Patina (sp?).

 

I love a dark emerald patina!



Faustina II, AD 147-175.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 24.67 g, 31.1 mm, 7 h.
Rome, mid 152- autumn 154.
Obv: FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG·FIL·, bare-headed and draped bust right.
Rev: CONCORDIA S C, Concordia seated left, holding flower and resting elbow on cornucopiae set on globe under chair.
Refs: RIC 1374a; BMC 2175-76; Cohen 57; RCV 4713; Strack 1315.


Faustina II, AD 147-175.
Roman oricalchum sestertius, 22.36 gm, 33.7 mm, 12 h.
Rome, December 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 Fadilla and Cornificia).
Refs: RIC 1635; BMCRE 902-904; Cohen 96; Strack 1336; RCV 5273; MIR 10.


Antoninus Pius, AD 138-161.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 23.16 g, 29 mm.
Rome, AD 142.
Obv: ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P COS III, laureate head right.
Rev: ANNONA AVG S C, Annona standing right, between modius and prow, holding corn ears and out-turned cornucopiae.
Refs: RIC 597; BMCRE 1228; Cohen 37; RCV 4147; UCR 502.

 

Gray
Pale Green
Orange (could be grouped as Red/Orange)

 

The rare GREEN DESERT PATINA OF CAMPANIA


Campania CAPUA AE 14-5mm 216-211 Hera Oscan Grain ear Hannibal capital Italia SNG Fr 517 SNG ANS 219 HN Italy 500 EE Clain Stefanelli



Campania CAPUA AE Uncia 216-211 BCE Diana Boar Hannibal capital Italia SCARCE



Campania CAPUA AE Semuncia 216-211 BCE Juno Xoanon Hannibal capital Italia SCARCE

 

Yes, I forgot gray. Although gray tends to be rare? I think I reached the maximum amount of poll entries. It doesn't seem to allow me to enter any more, other than the ones I just added.

I suppose pale green will have to count as vivid/apple green.

 

MULTICOLOR PATINA - SILPHIUM Bronze


KYRENAICA Kyrene Æ25 9.6g 250 BCE Diademed Zeus-Ammon r - K-O-I-N-O-N; Silphium plant; monogram SNG Cop 1278 BMC 16-19

 

Hmm. Let's see.









I guess I do not have a favorite...

 

Yes. Gray seems to be somewhat rare.
Maybe, you could add Pale Green to the group Apple/Vivid Green/Pale Green.
Are you allowed, to edit the names, of the individual poll items?
Here are some examples of my coins, which are Pale Green, Gray, and Orange.
Someday, I'll take better photos, of these coins. The photos were copied from group photos. But, you can see the colors, at least. I'm just trying to post some examples, so that you can see them, before your "Edit" button expires, on your OP poll.
The upper 2 coins (Byzantine Justinian II and Ancient Greek Zeus) are, what I would call, Pale Green.
The lower left Augustus coin is, what I would call, Gray.
The lower right Caligula coin is, what I would call, Orange.
NOTE : The upper left Justinian II coin, was pasted from a different group photo, therefore the size of that coin may not be accurate, relative to the other 3 coins. The other 3 coins, are from the same group photo, therefore their sizes are accurate, relative to each other.

 

A nice dark green or a dark brown but it reall y depends on the coin...I have some multicoloured and as long as the colours make the coin zing it's cool.

 

shades of blue and green:

 

I have a preference for combination blue (azurite) and green (malachite) patinas, probably because of my lifelong interest in minerals, but a nice green or brown patina is also very attractive for me.

 

It didn't seem to let me change existing poll questions. It let me add 2 or 3 more rows, though.

 

Brown with green highlights around the figures and devices is a favorite of mine, so long as the green isn't bronze disease. This sort of contrast can give a low-grade coin a bit of pop it otherwise would lack. Here are three examples:

 

This is the first coin that came to mind when I read the title. It's far from perfect but the patina is like a rock-hard layer of glossy turquoise icing.

 

I'm partial to Tiber patinas as well as bright green....

 

Great poll and coins!
I chose dark green (Forest green is my favorite color and really makes the coins pop) and chocolate brown



I LOVE uneven and strange patination as well: