Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;LaCointessa, post: 3976399, member: 87186&quot;]Happy 2020!</p><p><br /></p><p>Some of you guys may remember that the year before last I received two separate and unexpected gifts of deliciously gorgeous ancient coins. The the gift giver(s) remain(s)&nbsp; anonymous. The beauty of those coins and the generosity of spirit so blew my mind that I felt no need to try to find and acquire more beautiful or meaningful coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>The only coins I acquired for myself during 2019 were a few small groups of crusty ancient coins including Nabatean, Judaean, Seleucid, Byzantine and Islamic. I especially enjoy coming across a mixed bag of crusties.</p><p><br /></p><p>I will countdown my top three coins to No, 1, my favorite.</p><p><br /></p><p>#3 - Nabetea</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1046563[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>AE ____(wt)&nbsp;&nbsp; 9/8 BC - AD 40</p><p>obv: Aretas IV &amp; Shaqilat</p><p>rev: crossed cornucopias</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX</p><p><br /></p><p>#2 - date tree</p><p>&nbsp;[ATTACH=full]1046576[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>could it be this coin, below? (that is not my coin)</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1046577[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>#1 Col Nem -</p><p><br /></p><p>Recently, I purchased a $35 Dupondius Augustus Agrippa COL NEM croc in order to try cleaning it. I actually wanted to gift it to my Secret Santa recipient if it cleaned up well. As you can see, the obverse was HORRID. Photo 1 below). I was not sure I would see any improvement; but, because the reverse seemed very good and the price was so low, I got it. After first brushing, Photo #2.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1046581[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>The obverse was coming along but it still did not look like a coin I would want to give as a gift. When I had turned the coin over in my hand at least 20 times, I noticed the reverse is rotated almost 90 degrees. Photo #3.&nbsp; Figuring I already ruined the coin (if the rotated reverse would have added any special value) by beginning to clean the obverse, I decided to go ahead and tidy up the reverse, as well. Photo #4. I wanted to know, and I could not see, if the croc’s teeth were pointing up and if his legs were longish. When I searched for examples of crocs with rotated reverses, I don&#039;t come across any -- Granted, my search has not been exhaustive.</p><p><br /></p><p>I will post the coins again when I am finished tidying them. Ordinarily I would not post photographs of coins I am in the process of cleaning until I reach an acceptable result, but it is January 1st and I promised somewhere that I would try to get a short list of favorites posted. (Please be gentle) ^.^</p><p><br /></p><p>Oh! Where the red arrows are pointing... is that tooling??.</p><p><br /></p><p>LaC</p><p><br /></p><p>Edited to say:&nbsp; Thanks [USER=76543]@Johndakerftw[/USER] for motivating me to get a few of my 2019 coins up.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in