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Message:: [QUOTE="Julius Germanicus, post: 5395857, member: 80783"]That is why I try to buy all my Sestertii unpatinated or with a patina as light as possible. I only have a single black one (Elagabalus is the "black sheep of the family" <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> ). Also this is what the Roman artists designed their Sestertii to look like in hand.It was exactly the golden yellow tone that made the "divine" metal reserved for Sestertii and Dupondii stand out and twice as valuable as the reddish copper used for Asses, so it escapes me why the defining and, in my eyes, beautiful light tone should be hidden under a coat of black semi-corrosion. As far as I can tell from my collection, the orichalcum used was purest from the time of Domitian to that of Hadrian. Here is my companion piece to Plotina: [ATTACH=full]1232467[/ATTACH] IMP CAES NER TRAIANO OPTIMO AVG GER DAC PM TRP COS VI PP -Laureate bust of Trajan right, slight drapery on left shoulderSENATVS POPVLVSQVE ROMANVS, S C across fields -Felicitas, draped, standing left, holding up short caduceus in right and cornucopiae in leftSestertius, Rome, 214-21625,72 gr / 34 mmRIC 672 var. (different bust type). Cohen 352 var. (different bust type), BMCRE -, Sear -, Banti -, Woytek 534b.[/QUOTE]