The recent "horn silver" thread reminded me once again that the beauty was in the eye of the beholder. So let's share the "uglies" that we'll never part with. Here's mine: I was sold the second I saw it and willing to pay a lot. Luckily for me, nobody else liked it. PS. If I ever meet the person who put all those cleaning marks on it, I'll rip their arms off. PPS. Almost forgot: Thessaly, Larissa, chalkon?, 350-300 BCE, 21mm, 9.1g
Where is the ugly coin? I think she still retains a bunch of her beauty. Fun coin and thread idea. Though, rather than ripping arms off, you may want to shake their hands. That coin clearly had a bad case of bronze disease and somebody took plenty of time and care to cleanse that coin of the dreaded disease (when you see that maroonish color on bronze on areas with deterioration you know it was more than likely BD)... But to show I've dealt with that old nemesis myself:
Believe me it's beautiful to me. I'm just referring to the folks who can't stand a spot or a scratch on their coin. I actually thought of that, but couldn't see any signs of BD. The maroon encrustations are hard as a rock and can't be scratched with a copper brush.
Albert Kind said, "If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all." Well, if it wasn't for "Ugly" coins, I wouldn't have any coins at all! I was just updating my Shield collection and don't really pay much for Roman knock off Macedonian Shield Coins. Here's a grouping (with one beauty in the batch):
A coin of the Restorer of the World that some might find ugly. I sure did get it real cheap. Really like the portrait though.
Precisely. They did a good job of cleaning it off. That is the sign that BD was there eating away at the coin. Like crumbs on a fat kids belly.
I've got this sub-$10 denarius I picked up that has got a real running for ugliest coin in my collection. Roman Republic L Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus & Q Servilius Caepio 100 BCE AR Denarius | 3.29g | 19mm Obv: PISP CAEPIO Q, head of Saturn right, harpa behind; wreath above Rev: AD FRV EMV EX SC, the two quaestors seated left between two grain ears Ref: Crawford 330/1a, Syd 603, or Wildwinds
