These are my first ancient coins. Just a little history, I collected large cents for around 3 year, mainly late dates by die variety. I have been interested in ancients for a while, but never took the plunge until this Baltimore show. I picked up three coins: 1) Alexander the Great tetradrachm, Price 2710 - Western Asia Minor mint 323-280. The next two are roman sestertius, I just can't get away from copper! 2) Antoninus Pius Sestertius, Laureate head right, securitas seated left - my attribution is RIC 967, but I bought it unattributed. 3) Gordian III Sestertius, Laureate, draped/cuirassed head right, Laetitia standing left holding wreath and anchor - RIC IViii 300a: Needless to say, I am very excited about my new coins and collecting ancients in general. I would like to focus more on these two areas, greek tetradrachm and roman sestertius, but we will see how budget constraints and changing interests play out in the future. Any feedback on the coins would be appreciated, I'm new to this area and constructive criticism is welcome. Additionally, if anyone wants to check the attribution on the sestertius that would be great, I bought both unattributed and did the work with ERIC II.
Great stuff for first purchases. Nice to see instead of the usual Late Roman Bronzes or "uncleaned lots". Greek tetradrachms are pricey in pretty much any grade & there is alot of good quality fakes for them. Ive been collecting for almost 6 years now and only own 1 common tetradrachm myself. Roman sestertius is more affordable but can get pricey in better grades. Fakes abound too but are better recorded in the fake databases. BTW, hate to be the bad one, but from the photos, I think your Antoninus Pius Sestertius is infested with bronze disease. You may wanna treat it ASAP.
Some pretty impressive choices for someone first entering into Ancients....The Alexander Tet for instance---not a life-time issue but still terrific (and pricey).....and I love your other purchases, but I would definitely take what Mat says to heart... Welcome to the most interesting area of coin collecting...
I mostly collect US Bust halves and CWTs but have a few Roman imperial coins , I'm waiting for a few nice Greek coins and love yours . Great eye .
Great choices beef, but get that Antoninus Pius soaking in distilled water ASAP so you can start picking off the BD. I think some of the green is mineral deposit, but some is definitely bronze disease, especially when it's inside the pitting. If you need any help, ask for advice.
Since we do not know what you paid (and we don't need to know unless you want to know if you got your money's worth), we can only comment on the coins for what they are. I love the Tet. Toned and well detailed. I would gladly welcome it into my family of coins. I'm not a big fan of the AP Sestertius. Not enough detail and missing legends. And a good possibility of BD to boot. I do like the GIII Sestertius for all the reasons I'm not a fan of the AP. All in all, not bad at all for your initial crossing over to the dark side. I hope you decide to stick with it. I have a ton more fun here with Ancients then I ever had with modern coins. I did not check out your attributions. If you would like us to double check, just say so. Again, welcome here to the nut house beef
Thanks for all your comments everyone. On the bronze disease, are you talking about the lighter yellowish/green spots, mainly behind the head on the obverse? Or as you talking about all the bluish/green deposits? How do I take care of if, I have some verdicare if that will help. Bing, I was honestly on the fence about the AP Sestertius as well. I passed the first time at the table, then walked around more and did not find anything better for the price, so I went back. I paid $50 each for both the sestertius, quite a bit more for the tet.
I don't think the blue/green on the Antoninus Pius is bronze disease, but you might wish to clean it up anyway. In my climate with very low humidity that blue/green would be stable for decades.
You did well price wise for each of the Sestertii. And I would say the price on the GIII was very good.
Welcome Beef1020, your first ancients are super cool. the Tet is way cool, not having a test cut makes it.i think you did well on the 2 Sestertii, details awesome, your photo skills very good too! welcome to the darkside. side note are you a meatcutter,butcher?
First, you'll want to establish if it's BD to begin with. The blue/green deposits sitting on top of the surface of the coin are probably hard and stable. The BD would be soft and lighter or more 'neon' green in colour, and often found in pits. Use your nail, or get a toothpick and pick at it gently... if it comes off and is powdery, then that's BD. Doing the same will do nothing to the hard blue/green deposits.
beef-bro => those are fantastic ancient additions!! ... welcome to the dark-side, my friend ... The ATG Tet is fantastic, but I also love those big bronzy Sestertii (I love the feel of those big babies, in-hand!!) Z-bro is correct => "carefully" nudge the bright green spots with a toothpick ... if dusty green material easily rubs off then you've got yourself a case of BD ... but if a gentle nudge with a wooden toothpick doesn't disturb the green crusties, then you're golden and I'd leave your coin as it is, for they have great eye-appeal!!
BEEF, Everyone loves a large bronze!! i can't wait to see what you post next...and we all are after TETS...Right TIF? I may go 'incognito'---since I will probably change my avatar today to something more 'politically correct' for this site (Can you 'say' "politically correct??) LOL
