Some of you know I'd like to restore ancient coins. With COVID-19, I didn't had much time on my hands as a MD, but as dusts settles down, I found myself looking for a fun (and cheap at €10) cleaning project. This one looked promising: (sellers photo): It looked like a nice combination of horn silver with some copperoxides and iron oxides. Yesterday, it arrived, but only five minutes before my evening shift started, so I didn't really had time to look at it. This morning, I took my own photograph. Looking more closely, the encrustation on the left of the bust looked less promising, but pitted and rough. After a short soaking in a hot sodium thiosulphate anhydrate solution, the coin immediately turned black (which is a good sign, indicating that there is indeed horn silver present on the coin: sodium ditiosulfatoargentate is the result of sodium thiosulphate reacting with silver chloride). In the next step, I removed the sodium ditiosulfatoargentate by mild abrasion with sodium bicarbonate... ... and bummer, the coin turned out to be a fourree antonianus. I chuckled for a bit, because probably, ~1700 years ago, someone likely had the same thought, and then threw the coin away. So I've previously shared restoration successes; this is one of the two coins so far which did not turn out better than the coin I started with (in my own opinion, that is). I actually like how the coin looks in the second photo, so I'll try to repatinate it (and keep it in my own collection as a fun reminder). I'm a bit stuck with the identification. The emperor looks a bit like Philip the Arab, but I'm not really into that period. Any help appreciated
The coin is Philip I / Liberalitas. Yes, it is fourree and quite late for those to me made with this heavy silver. There are people who would appreciate it more than you. At least it was educational. My favorite fourree of the later period before the real coins had so little silver in them that the process stopped being worth the effort is this Trajan Decius.
I agree with DR, great post and thanks for your service! My favorite fourree is a cut Greek, man-headed bull. It looks like the silver on this one was thick.
I have a Philip I and a Gordian III that are fourrée - the Gordian is pretty crude in regards to workmanship, the Philip is a bit more passable (before the plating wore off) - Philip I the Arab Fourrée Æ Antoninianus (245-247 A.D.) Rome Mint (5th iss. 5th Off.) IMP M IVL PHILIPPVS AVG Radiate cuirassed, draped bust right / ANNONA AVGG Annona std. holding corn-ears over a modius and cornucopia. RIC 28c; Cohen 25. (2.20 grams / 21 mm) Gordian III Fourrée Æ Antoninianus (238 A.D.) Rome Mint IMP CAE[S - blundered legend] M ANT GORDIANVS AVG Radiate draped bust right /VIRTVS AVG, Virtus standing left, holding spear and shield. RIC 6; Cohen 381. (3.95 grams / 21 mm)
I just wondering if the ditiosulfatoargentate could have been removed by soaking the coin in distilled water, and then gently using a soft toothbrush, followed by a distilled water rinse, to remove any residue? The coin, after the ditiosulfatoargentate treatment looks quite nice, retaining much of the original color. I have in the past used liver of sulfur to retone coins, but it can be tricky. The degree of repatination desired is the determinant in using just the right strength of liver of sulfur, plus the time of soaking, which I usually make very, very brief (seconds) followed by a rinse in distilled water, followed by assessment. Coins treated in this matter do darken, sometimes considerably, over the next day or two.
Hi All, A Ptolemaic fourree for the mix. Ptolemy VI Philometor (First Sole Reign 180-170 BCE) Egypt, Alexandria, Undated - Ca 171/170 BCE Didrachm - Fourree (subaeratum = plated coin) Size: 21 mm Weight: 5.7 g Die Axis: 01:00 OBV: Ptolemy I head facing right, wearing diadem and scaly aegis tied by snakes. Dotted border. REV: Eagle on thunderbolt facing left. Legend to left: ΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙΟΥ; to right: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ. Undated. Dotted border. Refs: Svoronos-1490, pl li, 6-9 [11 listed]; SNG Copenhagen-549 var: date; Sear-7896; BMC 06.100, #005 Hoards: Syria, 1989 (CH VIII, 462); south of Hebron, 2004, Barag (2008), p 53, 2. - Broucheion
Thanks all for the kind comments. I appreciate fourree's as well; but (and I should have stated this perhaps a bit more clear), restoration procedures of fourree's are different and way more complicated than ordinary silver ancients. I've posted these before, but here are two previous fourree restoration projects: ROMAN IMPERIAL, Nero. Denomination: Fourree AR denarius, minted: Rome, Italy; 64-65 AD Obv: NERO CAESAR AVGVSTVS: Head of Nero, laureate, right, with beard Rev: IVPPITER CVSTOS: Jupiter, bare to waist, cloak round lower limbs, seated, left on throne, holding thunderbolt in right hand and long sceptre in left Weight: 2.35g; Ø:1.8mm. Catalogue: RIC I 53. Provenance: Ex priv col; acq.: 12-2018 ROMAN IMPERIAL, Trajanus. Denomination: Fourree AR denarius, minted: ; Uncertain Obv: IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS VI P P, laureate head of Trajan to the right Rev: AEQVITAS AVGVST; Aequitas, draped, standing left, holding scales in right hand and cornucopiae in left Weight: 2.43g; Ø:1.9mm. Catalogue: Unpublished variant, combining obverse of Trajan and reverse of Nerva. Provenance: Ex priv col; acq.: 12-2018
