So i Just got my Coin and i can take a better Photo of it. Does It truly has some smoothing or is It a Coin with deposits and encrustrations around It? Also, what is the patina of this coin?
That's a very attractive sestertius, with a nice strike and central detail. If there is smoothing, it is very subtle. I don't see any overt smoothing marks, based on the photos. The color, based on the photos, looks like a uniform brown which may or may not be natural. Sometimes when an ancient bronze coin is cleaned, it is repatinated. It is also possible that the brown patina is the result of development over time following the cleaning, much the same way the older bronze pennies turn that color after years of circulation and exposure to air and other chemicals. Overall that is a very nice example. What's its weight?
I can't really tell based on the posted photo. I coped the photo into Photo Shop to get a larger image of it and I still don't see any signs of tooling. Perhaps it is more apparent with the coin in hand. It could be that deposits were removed at those points, but I don't see any obvious signs of enhancing the details through tooling. The fact is that almost all ancient coins have been cleaned, to varying degrees, after emerging from the ground. Time has been kind to your coin, as it has nice surfaces and no corrosion or significant deposits, if any. The weight is good.
Thanks for the answers! You still think its a Nice Coin? Also, as you can see, specially at the reverse, its a bit rough, those are deposits or patina? Which is a bit Green as you can see
I see what you're referring to regarding the coin's reverse. It is not unusual, based on my experience, for one side of a coin to have color variation compared to the other. The green is just a copper oxide that occurs with a coin as old as yours. I don't think it is anything to be concerned about, but you could examine the coin from time to time for any changes. I think the surfaces on the coin are stable. Those raised points around the legend, between the letters and around the devices are likely die rust. The Mediterranean region is generally very humid, especially in Southern Europe, so iron dies did tend to form rust rather rapidly. The rust creates small pits in the die that appear as raised points when the coin was struck.
So, there is an lack of that copper oxidde in the obverse, Someone can remove that? Which looks like that happened there i think, and that is considered smoothing? Is that considered to be patina? Or the "true" Surface is the one below It?
Oxidation happens to all metals, with the exception of gold. Yes, there are chemicals that remove oxidation, but the fact is that copper, the main element in Roman bronze coins, is a very reactive metal, so a coin will darken naturally over time. Smoothing/tooling is a mechanical process that alters the surface fields and devices through the use of usually a metal hand tool, such as a dental probe or scraper. Use of such a tool in smoothing almost invariably leaves telltale lateral marks in the field, where the pressure creates shallow groves or depressions. In the case of tooling, which I define as an intentional attempt to enhance a feature, such as hair, the result can be very obvious, with a hair line and other detail being too bold and not as one would expect from the minting of a coin and its subsequent handling or deposition in a hoard. I see neither obvious smoothing or tooling on your coin. Others might have different opinions. Patina is a general reference given to ancient bronze and sometimes even silver coins. Patina can come in a variety of colors and in the case of bronze coins mainly brown, yellow, green, blue and combinations and shades thereof. It can also be smooth, earthen, patchy or rough and uneven. Patina also refers to the surface characteristics of the coin that has accumulated over time. In the case of your coin, I'd say that it has brown patina with green earthen highlights, again based on the photos. Patina can look different with the coin in hand. In ten or twenty years it might become a darker brown. Everything is in a constant state of change, and ancients are not excluded from this process. You have a really nice coin in my estimation. Hope this helps. Congrats!
