Look at this Solidus of Justinian, it is 4.40g: I found it here: https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/ca...justinian_i_gold_solidus/1644897/Default.aspx Look particularly on the reverse side. It looks so wrong. I have seen 1000s of images of solidus, but never one like this. Can anyone here tell me what has happened? It either look like it was exposed for fire and it melted a bit? Or maybe the diet was rusted when that coin was struck? In any case: If you have a strong opinion, or better: if you KNOW what it is, then I would like to know it. I dont intend to buy it. I am just curious why the heck it looks like it looks. Thanks
I believe it is a genuine coin subjected to a fire. My only expertise comes from owning a stack of tremisses which had melted together, which I sold before I began photographing my collection, so no photo for comparison, sadly.
It may have been a coin struck with rusty dies. I have seen surfaces like this on gold staters issued at the time of Mithradates VI from the Bosporus region.
kevin McGonigal, posted: "It may have been a coin struck with rusty dies." I don't think so. I don't think it was in a fire either.
Here is a coin which I believe was struck with rusty dies. The imperfections are localized, not involving the entire coin, and the devices which remain are all where they should be. Where the rust did not attack the die, the coin is unremarkable. In contrast, the OP coin is entirely afflicted with whatever caused it to appear as it is. I will add that the die work on the helmet looks pretty good. Could it be a poorly done transfer die from an original coin? The distortion of the letters on the reverse is the oddest thing. “After a momentary silence spake Some Vessel of a more ungainly Make; "They sneer at me for leaning all awry: What! did the Hand then of the Potter shake?"
I know nothing about the issue but to me it looks like it was tooled or has altered surfaces. It's just not right.
Could be just the lighting, but my first thought was I was seeing a fourree core being exposed on reverse. Without it in hand would be difficult to prove, (fourree would be thicker).
Worn reverse die? I also see some die rust on the reverse, around the head. There are very strong flow lines, which might be due to the flan being overheated prior to striking, causing more metal to move out from the recessed areas of the dies and towards the rims than would normally occur. Just a guess.....
