Turco-Hephthalite AR/BI Drachm (described as BI but looks to be silver, with no breaks where you can see bronze) Sogd script Bust Style of Sasanian king Vahran V (no legend) Zoroastrian fire altar flanked by ribbons and attendents. Bust of Ahura Mazda right in flames 25.4mm 2.67g Ancientnoob posted a similar coin here, at the same time I was looking for mine: http://www.cointalk.com/threads/ancient-lords-of-bukhara-775-785.230216/#post-1736557 This coin has very solid blue spots on both sides, which are very distracting in hand. This picture is in black and white, which doesn't show the spots (colored pictures coming in a week) Edit- I tried to post a thread on my tablet and it posted before I was ready. The title should read: Ancient -> Turco-Hephthalite Drachm!
Billon should not have 'breaks'. It can be a uniform mixture of metals of which a minor part may be silver. Sometimes you see them poorly mixed but often they are just grainy and gray. Breaks come when billon degenerated to a point where it was no longer gray so some mints added plating that can break and reveal darker metals below. I might define billon as very base silver too coarse to feel right calling it silver.
I believe it to be similar to Anoobs, but am not 100% sure (I forgot to record what was on the flip before I went to my cottage. The history can be found at Anoob's page.
By 'breaks' I meant areas of the patina that didn't fit with the rest of the patina. The coin looks like it is okay silver in hand (more than a billon coin)
Bukhara from around the 7th-8th century. "Turco-Hepthalite" is a guess, since we are not sure who ruled this town then. We know the Hepthalites were firmly entrenched into Sogdian families by then, but are unsure if the Sogdians still controlled Bukhara or if the new Turkish power had taken control. So, "Turco-Hepthalite" means we THINK one or the other was in charge, but does not mean we think they joined forces necessarily.
A lot of the study of history is either guesswork or dealing with someone with an ax to grind and unwilling to admit that many 'facts' are interpretations of the evidence. Run a list of which Roman Emperors were 'good' or 'bad' and you still can step on toes 2000 years after they died. The secret is not to accept facts without understanding the basis for them being the currently popular flavor.
Crazy-interesting coin, my young coin-comrade ... => well done my young friend ... well done!! Ummm, but I hope that your crazy family doesn't keep you up all night again tonight (your family sounds like a bunch of great partiers!!) ... anyway ... I am sad to hear that your coin has "distracting blue marks" ... => I hope that everything works-out for you and your coin!! Cheers!! ... ummm (or eat-a-chip!!)
As I wasn't using the best light to view when I was looking at this coin (for quite some time too), I missed that the color turns into a bronze around the center. However, the spots that were as hard as rocks as of yesterday spread and are now soft. How should I start treating what I believe to be bronze disease (which must have developed in transit )
nice lookin' coin WC. BD?! for just two letters, that's a four letter word! scrape with whatever you're ok with using on that coin, distilled water for a couple-three days, repeat with fresh water until all is good, bake it for 15 min at 200 f.
Dude, I'm sorry to hear about your poor coin's illness ... I hope that you're able to stop the problem and rescue your new treasure!!
