I beleive this coin is made out of gold its quite heavy for its size. I have no information on it; I hope anyone could give me more details about it(history, price). Thnx
That spot of green corrosion is a problem. Gold does not corrode. That would leave me to believe it is a well cleaned bronze coin. Not an expert, though.
I'm not an expert on gold either, but I tend to agree that it is not gold. Any gold coins I have seen have retained a better brightness and a smoother surface, even if dug. I could be wrong, but I would think that it is probably bronze.
The easiest way to determine if its gold or not is just a density test. Use water displacement, or attempt to get some rough dimensions on it, and then weigh it. Density=Mass(weight)/Volume. in Grams per Cubic Centimeters, Bronze ranges from around 7.5-9, whilst gold, depending upon purity, usually ranges from 17-19.5
looks like a brass sestertius of the roman emperor Nero. It appears to be severely cleaned and retooled, thus it is not worth very much. Still quite a nice example though!
Actually, except for pure gold coins, that is not exactly true. Alloys are not compounds. Gold and copper do not make Gold cuprite or Copper aurite or whatever. It is more like salad dressing where all the particles are in suspension. So, you can get spots of toning (corrosion, etc.) on a gold coin. Generally, ancient gold coins were not purposely alloyed, but the techniques for refining were limiting. (Since we are splitting hairs here -- or at least I am -- you have to define "gold" when speaking of ancients. Electrum (gold plus silver and sometimes plus copper, etc.) could still be called "gold" today.) All of that does not really contradict the general truth that a gold coin maintains its luster over time and hardly tones or corrodes at all.
I believe that I have seen this question and this coin before. It is a sestertius, a large bronze coin. For one thing, it says "SC" on the back. Senatus Consultum means that the Roman senate authorized the issue. The senate typically issued bronze; the emperor issued gold and silver. There are exceptions. Silver coins with SC are known. Also, Rome was a republic before it was an empire and even Augustus and especially Claudius were hesititant about their authority. So, the senate continued to have its traditional powers. The point remains, though: SC means the coin is bronze, not gold. Also, the coin is too large for gold. Large gold coins were known, especially for drastic emergencies, very high honors, etc., but they are exceedingly rare. Such as we know of need special explanation. The typical Roman gold coin was about the size of a US 5 cent Nickel, a bit smaller, at 20 mm, give or take. These coins weigh only 7 to 8 grams, usually, with 7.25 being about right for an early imperial. (It is interesting to see how they varied over time. Also, coins half this size were also made, though in smaller quantities.) So, a gold coin would be about the size of a nickel and heavier. Finally, this coin is too worn for a gold issue. Gold coins were not generally passed from hand to hand. They served for large state-sized payments. Of course, worn gold coins are known. However, the more they are worn down, the less common they are. All in all, it is impossible to tell from a scan, of course. Still, without actually seeing the coin, based on its size and legends and condition, I have to go with "sestertius."
Makes sense to me. I have a low-grade gold proof coin (modern foreign commem) with some “copper spots” where the alloy was not evenly mixed and the copper in the alloy tarnished. I suppose this ancient could be the same thing except it has turned to corrosion. My expectation would be, though, that gold is far more tarnish/corrosion resistant than bronze, so I would not expect to see a clean gold coin and one spot of raging corrosion. Anyway, I don’t think the coin is gold, but that us just my uneducated opinion. Looks like cleaned bronze to me.
