ModernCoinTraitor - Before (for after Round 16)

[ModernCoinTraitor]

Now that I'm starting to figure some of this out, thought I'd get a head start on the round after Round 16. Ordered my gems below... (Thanks, Joe!) ...got the lucky six coin bag! Can I send coin 6 back? (I'll pay the shipping!)

Let's see if I can describe what I can see under the green malachite (got to love those coins):
(Only describing what I can see, not looking stuff up, yet.)

1 - Dim: 21.51mm, Weight 2.62g
     O: IMP CVM LICIN?ICIN  (It's a bit tough, but likely Licinius)
            head right, laureate
     R: xxx  - ERVATORI AVGG
           Jupiter(?) standing, facing left nude(?), but wearing a cape, staff in left hand, holding something in right hand
          S??? in ex
2 - Dim: 23.01mm, Weight 3.51g
     lots of malachite covering this one
     O: xxx LIENVS AVG (It's missing some, but likely Gallienus)
           radiate, head right
     R: (ugh) D?NMAEC (guessing)
          horse walking right, looking left
          no mint mark
3 - Dim 18.40mm, Weight 2.40g
     O: xxx V xxxxxxx SP
         Bust right, draped and cuirassed, rose(?) diademed
     R:
         A or H in right field, someone walking right with staff in left hand, (I believe) slave kneeling under right hand
         mint mark present
4 - Dim. 19.00mm, Weight 2.60g
     O: No discernible details
     R: No discernible details
     Hopefully, that's soft dirt
5 - Dim. 19.48mm, Weight 2.96g
     O: heavily encrusted, can discern a legend exists in areas
     R: No discernible legend
           Jupiter(?) standing facing left, staff in left hand, Victory standing right in right hand
6 - Ohh... and I thought #2 had a lot of malachite AND red blisters... this one is going to be tough
     Dim. 20.51mm, Weight 4.13g
     O: xxxxx VS AVG
         radiate, bust right, wearing something, but not sure if armor or drape
     R: nothing discernible
         someone standing, something in left hand

Okay, that's the skinny version. Do you already know them? Here they are:

[RoryduPondius]

not too bad of a lot! #5 will definitely be good if you are easy on it. i hope you do not beat me out for round 17 though because the postal service cant find my coins!

[ModernCoinTraitor]

Well, good luck on finding your coins!
Regarding Round 17... well, I think we have a lot of time since Round 16 is barely underway.

I plan on taking special care of this lot since I have a lot of time to play with them. (Of course, I may need all of it for two of them.)

[ModernCoinTraitor]

Here's a quick progress report on Coin 2 after one pass at removing the malachite:

[ModernCoinTraitor]

Coin 6, on the other hand is proving beyond my current knowledge. Seems that the CRYSTALLINE coating covering this coin exposes only bright metal no matter how I remove it. This coin will likely have to be stripped to look anything decent. Just not sure how to get it off without damaging the actual surface. (Just complaining... no hints, please.)

[ego sum malum]

Number two looks good. Perhaps we can trade when this is over. I have a collection that has a hole that that would fill.

[ModernCoinTraitor]

Coin 6 is proving to be extremely difficult to mechanically clean. Here it is after my first pass on it (about 6 hours of mechanical work.) Normally when I get a coin of this caliber, I completely pass it by. (I may not have cleaned many, but I've had a lot of bad ones that I've passed on.) This contest has pushed me to try, while helping me learn new skills. Okay, on to the daily brush of the other coins, changing of the water, and off to bed. (I'm also attaching the before so you don't have to scroll back up.)

[areich]

Great work so far!

[ModernCoinTraitor]

I have artificially colored this photo of Coin 1 to show a new problem (for me)...
This coin seems to be plated (in silver? : areas colored brown to pink), but in many areas, that plating is missing (bright green). The surface crumbles like talcum powder (either area) if I touch it with a tool, but the two-tone looks wrong.

I've got the dirt off of it and think I can attribute it, but I don't think I'll go any further with it since I don't know what the right course of action is for this type of coin. I'll continue looking at old posts on this, but until then, I don't feel right going any further with it.  And, I can't really ask until this round is over, but I don't want to ruin this coin. I've tried cleaning a "talcum" surfaced coin before, and the details just vanish.

[ModernCoinTraitor]

Well, the coins are as far as I'm taking them. I'll post "formal" attributions later.

I used the same camera settings for each coin. As a result, Coin 4 was really dark. I took a new picture of Coin 4 with more light, but that makes the high spots really show. Oh, well... truth sucks. Cleaned up the multi-colored background.

Coin 1 looked better "dirty".
I like Coin 2 the best. Coin 6 was a close runner up, but it looks a lot lighter than here than in hand. (See prior post of Coin 6)
Coin 3 actually has some strange coloring from the dirt. Looks like rainbow toning on green patina.
Coin 5 took a lot more work than I would have thought to be required. That was some hard stuff on there.

This whole batch has features I don't currently have in my collection making them more interesting to me.

[Liam_D]

Great job!!  Those all turned out pretty good. 

[ModernCoinTraitor]

And the attributions:
(Note: Since contests are a bit slower than I thought when I first started, I'll be out of the picture for a year while waiting on this one to come up.)

I've started a new technique in my logging where I shade the missing/unreadable components in red. This makes it obvious down the road as to what I was thinking/guessing when attributing a coin. Unfortunately, all the effort is lost in the post when the word recognition routine turns off the coloring and makes recognized words blue.

Coin 1:
Licinius, 313-314 AD
O: IMP C VAL LICIN LICINIVVS PF AVG
     Head right, laureate
R: IOVI CONS-ERVATORI AVGG
     Jupiter standing left, nude, chlamys across left shoulder, leaning on scepter,
     holding Victory on globe in right hand; eagle holding wreath to left on ground
Mint: SMHT in ex, ‘A’ in right field
RIC VII Heraclea 6
Dim: 21.47mm, Weight 2.56g
Silvered
Rarity: R3

Coin 2:
Gallienius, (Sole reign) 260 – 268 AD
O: IMP GALLIENVS AVG
    Bust right, draped and cuirassed, radiate
R: DIANAE CONS AVG
    Doe facing right, looking backwards
RIC 5A Rome 176
Dia. 23.10mm, Weight 3.47g
Rarity: C

Coin 3:
Gratian, 17 Nov 375 – 9 Aug 378 AD
O: DN GRATIA-NVS PF AVG
    Bust right, draped and cuirassed, pearl diademed
R: GLORIA RO-MANORVM
    Emperor standing right, forcing barbarian to kneel with right, labarum (Chi-Rho standard) in left,
Mint: SCON in ex.,  ‘V’ in left field, ‘A’ in right field
RIC IX Arelate 18(b)
Dia. 18.39mm, Weight 2.39g
Rarity: S

Investigation:
The A in the right field (reverse) is fairly clear. This leads to either:
   7(a)- 1a(A) DN VALENTINI-ANVS, or
 18(a)- 2(A) DN GRATIA-NVS
The ‘IA’ on the obverse is just barely readable, but they are together.
VALENTINIA- based on letter sizing of readable letters would not fit, and would be type 1b(A), which does not have an ‘A’ in right field.
This leads to a mint mark of SCON or TCON

Coin 4:
Valentinian I, 25 Feb 364 – 24 Aug 367 AD
O: DN VALENTINIA-NVS PF AVG
    Bust right, draped and cuirassed, pearl diademed
R: GLORIA RO-MANORVM
    Emperor standing right, forcing barbarian to kneel with right, labarum (Chi-Rho standard) in left
Mint: ●ΓSISC
RIC IX Siscia 7(b)
Dia. 19.00mm, Weight 2.60g
Rarity: C

Coin 5:
Licinius Junior, Caesar, 321-324 AD
O: DN VAL LICIN LICINIVS NOB C
   Bust left, cuirassed, helmeted
R: IOVI CONS -ERVATORI
Jupiter standing left, chlamys across left shoulder, with Victory on globe in right hand, eagle tipped scepter in left hand, eagle with wreath to left, captive to right
Mint: X and III in right field, SMHB in ex
RIC VII Heraclea 54
Dia. 19.48mm, Weight 2.96g
Rarity: R1

Coin 6:
Tetricus II, 251-253 AD
O: C PIV ESV TETRICVS CAES (270), or CIV ESV TETRICVS CAES (271)
    Radiate, bust right, draped
R: SPES AVGG
    Spes walking left, holding flower and raising robe (only one leg visible through robe)
Mint: Coins for Tetricus I & II are assumed to all be made at Gallic mints.
           Actual mint is unknown.
RIC 5B Tetricus 270/271
Antoninianus
Dim: 20.51mm, Weight: 4.31g
Rarity: C