Got a cool sestertius from the Ocean County Coin Club Show yesterday in New Jersey. It didn't scan well but I'm throwin it up there, let me know what you think.
I think your coin still shows good detail and is attractive. Can't tell from the picture, are the surfaces fairly smooth? Interestingly, at first sight, the emperor's bust looked more like Antoninus Pius.
The coin looks much better in hand, all the details are there, the mottled toning obscures some features. The fields are smooth and the lettering is sharp. Was Commodus A. Pius's son or grandson?
Antoninus was Commodus' grandfather. Antoninus' daughter Faustina (younger) was the mother of Commodus.
Well struck, no wear, clear details = nice coin. I suspect a good photograph could be made that would play down the color contrasts. 'In hand' does it look better than what we see?
In hand it is much better, less splotchy, nice detail. The scanner usually good for coins but for some reason my Romans don't seem to scan.
May I suggest two things: 1. Try scanning the coin upside down on the glass so the moving light hits at a different angle. Different brands of scanners have different pickup arrangements and coins can look better if scanned so the light appears to come from above rather than under the chin. These four images of the same coin were done on the same scanner but the coin was rotated 90 degrees between each and the image was rotated to restore each to the correct side up. It makes a big difference on many scanners. 2. Many images come out too contrasty and too strongly color saturated. Both can be corrected with the software that accompanies most scanners. It is best to make such corrections while looking at the coin and stopping when the screen image matches the real thing. Too much saturation makes uneven colors look even more uneven.
What year was Commodus? Thank you for posting the rainbow toned sestertius. I'm always learning neat stuff from you guys. Very best regards, collect89
All of the images of ancient coins (Roman, Byzantine) in my website are from an old Olympus digital camera. I think that the irregular surfaces on ancient coins keep them from scanning well.
