I Doubt You'll Get This One! :)

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by Colby J., Oct 15, 2019.

  1. Colby J.

    Colby J. Well-Known Member

    Uncleaned, corroded, disgusting! Exactly describes this coin. its about the weight and size of a semis. But its super thick. I have no clue what it could be. Anyone? If you look at it from a distance, a portrait appears, but that might be a trick of the mind.

    Im just starting out with ancients, been doing it for like a year, they are so unlike US coins, I just love em! :)

    32040208_Unknown.JPG 32040256_Unknown.JPG
     
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  3. Ancient Aussie

    Ancient Aussie Well-Known Member

    Your right, nobody will get this...:arghh: Not even sure it's ancient.
     
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  4. green18

    green18 Unknown member Sweet on Commemorative Coins Supporter

    Apostrophe before 'em'.......
     
  5. tibor

    tibor Supporter! Supporter

    A coin only a true collector could love.
     
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  6. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    Au contraire, I know exactly what it is.

    It is a 2.38-povlar piece from the Mrpxl League of the Galglarnian Federation on Planet Znutor in the Marvidian Galaxy.

    The obverse shows a Hestarnian Beast holding a reticulated klugor.

    The reverse shows a Plingnor plant.

    Sorry, I'm afraid the mintmark is not discernible, however, so I cannot tell you which officina of the Galglarnian mint struck it, and thereby cannot give you the exact attribution from the Zhengnor reference.
     
  7. Roerbakmix

    Roerbakmix Well-Known Member

    It's Kruurkils mint, making it Zhengnor p347-11x.
     
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  8. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    Nicely done, sir. You must be working from the 23rd edition.
     
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  9. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

  10. gsimonel

    gsimonel Well-Known Member

    A crusty! I haven't seen one in years.

    This is a candidate for electrolysis. There may be a decent, identifiable coin--albeit, probably with pretty rough surfaces--under all that crud. Electrolysis will remove the crude, allowing you to see the actual surface of the coin. It may still be a dog, but it's also possible that you will be pleasantly surprised by what you discover.

    Here's some information about setting it up:
    http://gometaldetecting.com/electrolysis_coins.htm
    https://www.wikihow.com/Clean-Coins-With-Electrolysis

    You can also use sodium carbonate (Arm & Hammer Washing Soda) as your solute. I've had good results with this. Do not use salt or lemon juice, however, unless you also add a lot of baking soda to the water.

    Good luck.
     
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  11. dougsmit

    dougsmit Member

    Obviously you saw the bearded portrait right since you got it right side up. You have nothing to lose destroying the coin by severe cleaning. Many, many years ago, I took a holed, really terrible and unidentifiable as size coin and carried it with my keys for several years. After about five years of pocket change and keys, I saw a portrait emerge that I believed to be a provincial of Septimius Severus but no reverse. That portrait disappeared in a few more years so I stopped carrying it. Fewer people carry a lot of pocket change as was fashionable 50 years ago but you can put a coin like that in a rock tumbler (with pennies?) and might find something to see.
     
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  12. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    Hm. Wasn't obvious to me at all. Any bearded portrait there I saw (and I didn't), I would have simply put down to my own pareidolia.

    Good idea about the pocket-carry suggestion, but if I tried that, I'd only end up losing the thing and/or finding it in the washing machine later (if at all).

    The one time I tried using a rock tumbler on an uncleaned ancient coin lot, I got mixed (mostly decent) results. I was using beach sand as a tumbling medium, but not for an extended amount of time- just 12-36 hours or so. I've heard sawdust or crushed pecan shells can be a good tumbling medium over longer periods, but never tried them.
     
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  13. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    As to electrolysis, it could be a good candidate for that, but I would counsel caution there, and recommend checking it often. The first US large cent I ever found metal detecting was vaguely identifiable as a 1796-1807 Draped Bust cent, but when I "zapped" it with electrolysis, it did not take me long to "burn it up" and render it a completely featureless slug. I was of course trying to see if I could coax a date out of it, but ended up making it worse.

    But I've had successes with electrolysis as well. Especially on silver.

    I have also found that dropping the coin into a bowl of household hydrogen peroxide solution that has been heated to just shy of boiling in the microwave can "fizz off" some of the deposits on a dug bronze coin. Drop it in, leave it in until it stops fizzing, then repeat the process with the opposite side of the coin face up.

    Mind you, I've only tried this on dug Wheat cents and the like- never on uncleaned ancients. Uncleaned ancients probably have a harder and thicker patina. But on something as crusty as this coin, the peroxide method might help a little. Don't think it could hurt to try.
     
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  14. Colby J.

    Colby J. Well-Known Member

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  15. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    You weren't getting several jokes. ;)

    My serious replies were further on. Posts #11 & 12.

    See @dougsmit's post for the most serious information you're likely to get until that thing is cleaned.

    Until then, I highly doubt you're going to get any attribution information on it until you "bust the crust", so to speak.
     
  16. gsimonel

    gsimonel Well-Known Member

    The joke is that NONE of the Plingnor-Plant coins have the pojuka birds. Any coins with pojuka birds are forgeries.
     
  17. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    You must be reading from the 26th edition of Zhengnor there. It mentions the forgeries but was published before the Sfagnaruu Hoard was discovered and authenticated. Several pieces in the Sfagnaruu Hoard had the pojuka birds on the reverse.

    (*Here's a winky-face emoji for @Colby J. ) ;)
     
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  18. Theodosius

    Theodosius Fine Style Seeker

    And people say you can't trust the information you find on the internet!

    :)
     
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  19. Alegandron

    Alegandron "ΤΩΙ ΚΡΑΤΙΣΤΩΙ..." ΜΕΓΑΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ, June 323 BCE

    Here is mine that is the same as the OP.

    AsGingerSnap-Obv-Rev.jpg
    Semis or As
    Snappus Gingerius


    I looked far and wide for this one. Yum, when I found it.
     
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  20. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    Smoother surfaces. Likely a bit tastier.

    But yes, the resemblance is otherwise uncanny. I wonder if that one is listed in Zhengnor.
     
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  21. dougsmit

    dougsmit Member

    Now that you have proven that you can not joke on the Internet without confusing people.....

    The point here is that you asked a question which can not be answered without using mental telepathy. My answer stands. Spend all the time and effort in the world and you will never have a collectible coin BUT you might see something as layers of crud and corrosion are peeled away. You might decide that once you had a Roman coin of an identifiable ruler. You might see the reverse type. What I believe is certain is that you will benefit from the experience ONLY in ways that do not provide anything for your collection. As it is, it is a ghost long past its time on earth. Anything more, whatever you do, would be a miracle.
    I love them, too, but I buy better looking coins. Call me shallow. :angelic:
     
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