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OK Thing, Clumps of Dirt For You to Work Your Magic

18 posts in this topic

These were my best clumps of dirt before they went swimming in olive oil. Any ideas on what they are?

 

Hey!!! You really did keep the best clumps for yourself. mad.giffrustrated.gif

 

-JamminJ

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Coin 1,2,3 are all late Roman empire. I think coin 4 is early Byzantine. Coin 5 WITHOUT doubt is one of the famous Widow Mites. Coin 6, I'm not sure, I'm thinking early Byzantine. The rest are late Roman empire. I can have you exact attributaions tomorrow afternoon!

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These were my best clumps of dirt before they went swimming in olive oil. Any ideas on what they are?

 

Hey!!! You really did keep the best clumps for yourself. mad.giffrustrated.gif

 

-JamminJ

 

Hey, at least I didn't post any of the gold or silver ones that were in my batch. sumo.gif

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In your 4th coin down, on the reverse, the A N T stands for the mint at Antioch. The ones I said look as late Roman empire are most likely coins of Constantine. I'm sure with that quality, I can give you good attributions. You might want to hold off cleaning them since they are that nice.

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These 9 didn't go swimming yet. My other ~500 are swimming. I was waiting on these to see if you needed me to look at them and see if I could see anything extra.

 

Will the olive oil take off the green stuff on a lot of these coins? It's not dirt. It looks like PVC that you see on US coins.

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BTW Greg, if we can get that Widow Mite reverse cleaned up with the olive oil, you might have a $50.00 coin on your hands. Its has a very strong inscription and anchor. I think, as I mentinoned, I can have them all attributed by tomorrow afternoon.

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Will the olive oil take off the green stuff on a lot of these coins? It's not dirt. It looks like PVC that you see on US coins.

 

The green stuff you see is called "lawcites disease". I might of mispelled that. It is NOT PVC. It's very common on bronze coins. The olive oil soaking should take care of it. Once you get the green off, and the coins to where you want them to be, rub them down with gun oil and a cloth. They should be OK from there on out.

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Once you get the green off, and the coins to where you want them to be, rub them down with gun oil and a cloth.

 

Boxer and Feinstein have outlawed gun oil in California. Is there anything other than assault oil that will keep them from turning green again?

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Once you get the green off, and the coins to where you want them to be, rub them down with gun oil and a cloth.

 

Boxer and Feinstein have outlawed gun oil in California. Is there anything other than assault oil that will keep them from turning green again?

 

A joke, right? Gun oil is a preservative for gun metal. That simply can't be illegal! 893whatthe.gif

 

Hoot

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Gregster, below is the best I have been able to get. Eveyone said for a exact attributaion, more of the legends will need to be revealed, so after the cleaning, it will be easy, and even I will be able to ID them w/o help....

 

From what I can see on the first, it looks like Theodosius. The

second coin has the FEL TEMP REPARATIO revese with soldier spearing fallen

barbarian--could be any of the Constantine's or Julian II. The third has the

GLORIA EXERCITVS, two soldiers on either side of a standard reverse--should

be one of Constantine's sons from the liook of the portrait, but am not

expert enough to distinguish between them always. The next coin is late 4th

or early 5th century--don't know the coin but I'm sure you can find it on

Warren Esty's site (again, probably more than one emperor is possible)

http://esty.ancients.info/ricix/ . The coin after the widow's mite is a

Byzantine half follis year 20--not sure about the emperor, but my guess

would be Maurice Tiberius--would need a better view of the obverse to tell

for sure. The next coin has the reverse with emperor dragging captive. This

would probably be Valens or Valentinian I--this would be on the Esty site

also. The next, as I mentioned before is one of three emperors. I would

probably rule out Theodosius, though, based on the portrait. Only 4 emperors

struck this type--the last--Arcadius is pretty rarw and this does not look

like that--so either Gratian or Valentinian II--also on Esty's site. The

last is either Constans or Constantius II GLORIA EXERCITVS two soldiers and

standard--looks like mint of Alexandria.

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Greg, I was also going to tell you, JJ and Shiro that once you get them cleaned, ID'ing the emperor of the Roman coins will be easy, and then you can attribute them exactly at www.wildwinds.com. Byzantine coins are also listed on there, but they will be harder to ID than the Romans. I'm guessing there will also be a few Greek and Islamic coins in there. On all your Holy Land coinage, I can attribute them for you easily. I think, judging by the pics you posted in this thread, you guys might be in for a good profit if you do indeed intend to sell them. gossip.gif I also think you might of picked over the bunch before the split. gossip.gif

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Greg, I was also going to tell you, JJ and Shiro that once you get them cleaned, ID'ing the emperor of the Roman coins will be easy, and then you can attribute them exactly at www.wildwinds.com.

 

I've only took a quick look at that site, but it looks like it will help a lot.

 

 

 

I think, judging by the pics you posted in this thread, you guys might be in for a good profit if you do indeed intend to sell them. gossip.gif

 

I doubt I will keep any. However, out of the ~500 I have, these were the best. So the others may be giant losers.

 

 

 

I also think you might of picked over the bunch before the split. gossip.gif

 

screwy.gif

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