Featured The Beauty of Impermanence

This recent purchase arrived from CNG and I thought it would fit in this thread. I posted it on the favorite emperors thread but I took some pictures outside in sunlight that I think show Nike to good advantage.


Vespasian. Dated regnal year 3, 70-71 CE. Bronze drachm. 35mm, 23.07g. Alexandria. Obverse: ΑΥΤΟΚ ΚΑΙΣ ΣΕΒΑ ΟΥΕΣΠΑΣΙΑΝΟΥ (legend mostly not visible). Laureate head of Vespasian right. Reverse: Winged and draped bust of Nike right. LΓ (date) to right. RPC Online II 2427. Emmett 208.

From CNG E-Auction 487, Lot 385, March 2021. Ex Stein A. Evensen Collection, purchased from Hussam Zurgieh, Dubai, October 2010.

Here are the sunlight pictures:





I really like Nike's hairstyle and how her wing joints are just visible.

 

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Very nice! Yes, the modeling of Nike on the reverse is striking, augmented by the green highlights.

The Alexandria drachms sometimes have really nice patina combinations, as exemplified by your coin.

Here's a similar example, though lacking much of the dramatic contrast of your coin.

 

As noted with other coins in this thread, sometimes conditions for a bronze coin are just right to create uniform, hard patinas over varying shades of green, sometimes with blue tints. If perfectly uniform and smooth, and the strike is well centered, the appearance of the coin can virtually resemble a medallion carved in green jasper.

Some fine examples have been posted.

I thought I'd add this new arrival, a sestertius of Faustina II, 161 AD, RIC 1665.

20.98 grams

 

Well, "beauty" does not fit either one of these, but they just came in the mail today, and as I was looking them over, the do fit the bill for me as far as why I like ancients - even the cruddy ones. At $5 a piece they were affordable, and the Gallienus has a kind of raffish charm, while the other one (sold as an unidentified cull) is from that interesting figure Tacitus (and I didn't have to pay extra for the very interesting flan crack-lamination).

 

@robinjojo mentioned the jasper-green patinas that some coins get.
My most green is this Diva Faustina. You can see some areas where the patina is not complete, but in hand, this is a gorgeous glossy, smooth, dark green.




Alexadrian tetradrachms are somehow very prone to some interesting entrustations, typically of the blue and/or green variety.



The trouble with these is its often hard to distinguish between copper deposits, and bronze disease. I have a rather nice Severina which first looked to have some nice copper. After some poking with a stick, it proved to be rather savage bronze disease. It's still in the ICU.

 

The rule of thumb that I have used to distinguish bronze disease from hard, green deposits, is that active bronze disease is a pale green to almost white appearance, and powdery, the sign that it is actively combining with moisture and air, eating away at the surface.

I have coins that look as if they have bronze disease. They have green spots that are somewhat below the surface. But, they are hard, not soft or powdery, and cannot be scraped off with a finger nail. Now, it is possible that at some point there might have been some corrosion going on, but over the years or even centuries they have hardened and "stabilized". I guess under the right conditions, such as lots of humidity over an extended period, corrosion might occur again, but then again maybe not. I figure that if it becomes an issue, I will be long gone - no sense thinking about that - enjoy the coins!

 

Soooooooooooooooo nice!

 

I've always wished I could capture the vibrancy of the colors of this coin, the way it looks in-hand under natural light. This photo gives an idea... but falls short too.

It's a common coin, struck with worn dies and with a normal patina, probably an ugly coin. But... time and the elements have elevated it a bit in my book.

Greens, blues, silver, brown, reds... it's got some great color and is naturally glossy as well. It just beams in-hand. With subtle changes in the viewing angle, different colors come to the forefront. It's a common coin that shouldn't be all that special, but time has added something special to it.

 

Yes, very nice!

I really like the hard patina and the color contrasts. That's what makes an ancient coin so unique.

 

Nice additions to this thread! I enjoy seeing the various effects of time's paintbrush on these bronze coins.

One of the characteristics that I like about the coin below is its blue-green patina.





Cilicia. Hieropolis-Kastabala (circa 200-100 BC)
Æ (Bronze, 20 mm, 7.25 g)
Draped, turreted and veiled bust of Tyche right, monogram behind / Eagle standing left, on club.

 

"I enjoy seeing the various effects of time's paintbrush on these bronze coins."

Both elegantly and poetically stated.

 

This coin arrived today after a diversion in transit that landed it for a while at a postal facility in southern Maine. I was afraid that it would continue on the eastward trek, arriving eventually in Cupertino by way of Vladivostok, but a course correction eventually put it in a westward direction, thankfully.

I say thankfully, for this third century AD BI antoninianus of Salonina, 260-268 AD, while quite common, has a truly beautiful patina comprised of a mix of malachite (green) and azurite (blue), along with some of the original silvering. Time and the elements have smiled upon this coin.

Obverse: SALONINA AVG Bust of Salonina, diademed, draped, right, on crescent.
Reverse: FECVNDITAS AVG Fecunditas, draped, standing left, holding cornucopiae in left hand; at her feet, child; delta right.
Rome Mint

RIC 5 (Gallienus), MIR 36, 581aa; RSC 39a

2.43 grams

 

Another coin arrive yesterday that is a good candidate for this thread, so here it is. While this type is readily available, this example has a very pleasing combination patina of brown, green and blue. The earthiness, I think, adds another dimension.

Bithynia, Herakleia Pontika Æ 23mm. Circa 305-280 BC. Head of Herakles to right, wearing lion skin / ΗΕΡΑΚΛΕΩΤΑΝ between club and bow in gorytos. SNG Stancomb 826; SNG BM Black Sea 1632; HGC 7, 484. 8.57g, 23mm, 4h.