Since this hasn't to do with conservation or fakery or storage, or with any special tecnniques in photography (it is just a detail from an acquisition photo), I would like to see a strictly limited
thread in Classical
Numismatics for this kind of thing (such as we have, e.g., for
Mythology), but I do not have the right to initiate one.
So.
Here is a detail from a wonderful new acquisition, which I'll wait to discuss elsewhere in terms of die linkage. This is for what it
shows. We see not only the original 'centering dimple' but (a) across the cheek, an ancient scratch that the
patina fills, (b recent chips in the 'Danubian'
patina, and (c) a very recent gouge showing the Moesian brass looking just like the true
orichalcum that I suspect that it is--at a date when it is hardly seen looking this pure at the
Rome mint.
Even in an image limited to a 5MP one-piece camera, the thickness and the layers of this kind of
patina can be studied, and this is a very well preserved
patina of a lovely color (on the
reverse, most of it is gone, but not so recently). Also, it reminds us how much sharpness in the die and strike this lovely kind of
patina can obscure.
Pat L.
