I was wondering if anyone has encountered a pale green/gray wax on both sides of a coin before? My initial thought was museum mounting or some other display aid but that makes less sense when it appears on both sides. Here it is on a recent purchase of mine, a cistophorus of Augustus with the wax on Augustus' eyebrow, ear, and a bit on the high points of the sphinx body. I've wanted this type ever since I started collecting and I had a bid on this exact coin about four years ago but was ultimately outbid. It just came back up for auction and I bought it for half of what it sold for before, so I'm not complaining. It has some obvious marks and imperfections but this type has notoriously poor preservation in general. Perhaps I'll be able to upgrade it at some point but I'm very happy for the time being.
Fantastic coin, my guess you would be very lucky to find one any better than that, the detail on the sphinx wings is incredible.
Wowza! Congrats on nabbing this coin the second time around! It is in a fantastic state of preservation for the type! As for his lovely eyeshadow, I wonder if it is a molding compound. Castaldo, a big name in jewelry mold making, has a low temperature silicone mold rubber that is approximately this color. Maybe the previous owner made a mold and intends to cast some jeweler's copies for posterity. Err, hopefully they would be jeweler's copies... While it looks rather aqua in the image below, a thin layer on toned silver might look more minty. https://www.riogrande.com/product/c...-3-8-silicone-mold-rubber-strips-5-lbs/701005
I'm also going to say molding compound. It's the sort of coin that would have been used to make electrotype copies that were once popular in museums.
How does one use this material to make a mold of a coin? How many 18" strips weigh 5 pounds? It has been years since I played with making plaster and plastic casts of coins.
5 pounds is a lot of strips. You cut the strips into pieces matching the size of your mold. A coin would use the smallest mold and it would take ~one or slightly more than one of these strips to fill the mold. The coin is sandwiched in the middle, and the whole thing is put in a heated press to melt all the layers together. Some strips can be pressed together at room temperature (RTV; room temperature vulacanizing) or at very low temperatures. There are many videos demonstrating this but a quick photographic overview can be seen here: http://www.jewelry-tutorials.com/making-rubber-mold-jewelry-casting.html
I spent so much time looking at the coin that I didn't even pay attention to your post. Then when I read it, I thought, what wax? I was so distracted by the details in the wings, I never noticed. Superb coin.
Thanks everyone! A molding compound seems very likely. I haven't tried removing it - the coin is somewhat toned so I'd be worried about it exposing an untoned surface. I may try taking off part of it in an innocuous place to see if it is bright metal beneath.
Molding compound would be my first guess too Utterly superb coin ! And I appreciate your optimism : I would love to dream at upgrading such a coin Congrats AJ Q
