Last week I did a write up on both this coin and the Maximian radiate. I got both today, however, due to my schedule, I've only been able to photograph Diocletian appropriately. So here's my humble effort. Only $19 and people passed on it all day long, while I resisted and waited for someone else to put me out of my misery by buying it. When others continued to neglect it, I finally caved in and this is what my $19 got me. I think I did good. Since JA owned this coin, I'd like to hear what he thinks of my image. I'll try to work on Maximian as soon as possible, but due to my complicated schedule who knows when that will be. I'll do my best to make it tomorrow.
Looks good to me! One assumption some collectors make is that ancient means expensive. In fact, the Romans churned out coins by the millions upon millions, over many mints scattered all over Europe and Asia Minor, over many centuries. Yes, there are rare types, but others are common and plentiful, and should not cost more than $15-$25. Even the collector on a tight budget can assemble a set of historically important coins in pleasing grades.
Another assumption many people make is that something that costs a million dollars is more interesting than something that costs ten. I think your $19 coin is excellent. Mine was $15 (in 1998) but yours is more than $4 nicer. Note the X's of XXI are turned a bit almost looking like + signs. This was a short lived style of the mint that produced it (see if you can figure out which). Don't look at the links below until you try the ID. http://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=464238 http://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=63288 http://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=366094 http://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=11235 If I were a better linguist I'll bet this would help me more. It is from the first above. Nom de l'atelier : Europe, Héraclée Ce type existe aussi pour les ateliers de Cyzique et d’Antioche. Il n’y a pas de ptéryges sous le paludamentum. Au revers, à l’exergue, les deux X prennent la forme d’une croisette.
@dougsmit I think I got it right. I looked on a site called wirldwind or something like that for a while and found out some coins atributed to Antioch. I wasn't sure based on the examples shown, but took a guess anyway that the A might have something to do with it. But I'm still not sure how you arrived at the results, some Antioch coins have other symbols too
Maximian's turn to join his fellow Caesar in the spotlight. Unlike Diocletian who looks as cool as a chocolate bar, Maximian looks a little green with envy If only I had a dollar for every bad joke I make, I'd have me an Ides of March coin in no time at all.
The lighting is much better than the pic I managed, but the coin is quite green. Did you desaturate or grayscale the image?
Here, I'll put both images side by side for contrast. It will help see the color difference between Maximian which is definitely greenish and Diocletian who is quite brown: I think when viewed against each other you can definitely tell Maximian is greenish. You are right though that I muddled some of the green a little, which is a small sacrifice I had to make in the process of trying to capture the legend of the coin in higher detail, as the heavy green patina makes it somewhat more difficult to read in the hand. I had to play with the angles of the light, and over-saturate the coin with light a little, to try to get the legend to pop out. I honestly don't think I did anything wrong by that, as I'm not covering up any defects or trying to make the coin appear as something it is not. Yes, the green is a little more muted in the photograph, but I achieved the desired effect of photographing the legend in more detail. Maybe as my skill improved I'll be able to capture the best of both world better without sacrificing any element.
No, it's perfectly fine. I had a devil of a time with the Max because of the glossy patina. Eventually I gave up and said good enough for government work, lol.
