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Author Topic: An exciting find???  (Read 1606 times)

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Offline Lee S

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An exciting find???
« on: July 24, 2014, 02:29:45 am »
Hi Guys....
 Yesterday I won a lot of uncleaned Greek coins, and I thought I would share the photograph which made me bid on this particular lot.... Do you see what I see??? ;D

  It will be a couple of weeks before I acctualy get my hands on this lot, as I am off on holiday in 2 days, but when I get back I will post more detailed photos of both sides, and then try to detail what will be a very carefull cleaning process... ( I have been after one of these for ages!!  +++ ;D +++ )

  Best wishes,

Lee.

Offline quadrans

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Re: An exciting find???
« Reply #1 on: July 24, 2014, 03:02:51 am »
 congratulation...

 +++

 ;D

 Q.
All the Best :), Joe
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Offline SC

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Re: An exciting find???
« Reply #2 on: July 24, 2014, 03:59:43 am »
Great find. And good luck. Cleaning Greek AEs is a royal pain......  This one deserves to come out.

Shawn
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(Shawn Caza, Ottawa)

Offline Molinari

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Re: An exciting find???
« Reply #3 on: July 24, 2014, 07:09:50 am »
Nice find!  Can't wait to see more pictures!

Offline Lee S

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Re: An exciting find???
« Reply #4 on: August 09, 2014, 05:56:45 am »
Here is a picture after 1 week of soaking, scraping and scrubbing.... I have only been working on the obverse so far, there is a face slowly emerging , and I feel fairly confident that I can restore this to a nice coin, but it is going to be hard work, and I am not sure that I will be able to keep the green patina intact, as it is quite soft and thin in places...

  will post more pix as and when...

Lee.

Offline Lee S

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Re: An exciting find???
« Reply #5 on: August 11, 2014, 11:24:59 am »
The work continues, it is a shame about the corrosion in front of his face on the obverse... However when I am happy with the rest of the coin I have a plan to use some form of darkener to reduce the contrast on this spot, otherwise I am very happy with the way this coin is progressing... Soaking in Gringotts, and daily brushing and perhaps 10 or 15 min each day with my sharpened welding rod...

   However I think soon the brute work will be done, and it will be time to break out the finer tools ( a used insulin needle makes an excelent super-fine picking tool!! ) I am not sure how much fine detail I will be able to reveal, but I'm gonna give it my best shot!!

Offline Molinari

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Re: An exciting find???
« Reply #6 on: August 11, 2014, 11:35:43 am »
Looking good so far.  I was afraid the MFB's face wouldn't show details but they are starting to emerge.

Offline Lee S

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Re: An exciting find???
« Reply #7 on: August 11, 2014, 11:42:21 am »
I'm SOOO hoping I can get it the Point where you can recognise it is a man's head!! Nick, I don't suppose you have a definite ID for this coin do you, if I had an example in better condition it would aid me no end in revealing the fine details...

Offline Lee S

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Re: An exciting find???
« Reply #8 on: August 16, 2014, 06:24:29 am »
Well,
 I am at the point where I do not think I can improve the coin much more, the patina/encrustations ( it is difficult to differentiate between the two on coins like this ) softened up nicely using Gringotts, but unfortunately the underlying metal is quite pitted and corroded so after removing as much as I dare from Apollos hair, and from around Nike and the bull, I smoothed everything a little using a 320 grit dremel smoothing tool, then applied Jax Black/brown to areas of bare metal with a cotton swab, waited till I was happy with the colour, then brushed off under the tap. I then dried the coin using my usual method ( sitting it on top of the toaster!! ) then waxed and polished.. Done!!

  Here are true "Before" and "After " photos... Although not the best result I ever had from a coin, I am very pleased to finally own a MFB, and even more pleased because I cleaned him myself...
  All I need to do now is ID him, ( any help appreciated, I'm leaning towards Neapolis, Campania, Italy, c. 270 - 240 B.C. but no where near sure... Guys???  :P )

Offline Molinari

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Re: An exciting find???
« Reply #9 on: August 16, 2014, 07:28:00 am »
Great job!  I didn't think it would come out so nice.

Definitely Neapolis.  Can you see anything below the bull between his legs (I know how that sounds)?

Offline Molinari

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Re: An exciting find???
« Reply #10 on: August 16, 2014, 07:30:08 am »
Or anything behind Apollo?  Those two space would have devices that can help to further pinpoint the date.  Otherwise we'll go on style alone which is always tricky.

Offline Lee S

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Re: An exciting find???
« Reply #11 on: August 16, 2014, 01:19:11 pm »
Unfortunately I see nothing on the obverse side.. There is possibly something between the bulls legs ( oooh errr!! ) but I cannot really make it out...  ???

   However I am quite happy with a fairly rough attribution... It will be staying in my collection for the foreseeable future, and I am just happy to have it there!!

   +++  ;D  +++

Offline Molinari

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Re: An exciting find???
« Reply #12 on: August 16, 2014, 01:58:02 pm »
Judging from the flan and style, your coin would be in Sambon's 270-240BC group (Sambon 651-692), however those almost always have control marks behind Apollo.  I think your coin has one but we just can't see it.

Offline Lee S

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Re: An exciting find???
« Reply #13 on: August 16, 2014, 04:47:07 pm »
Thank you Nick,
  It's a shame the coin didn't reveal just a little more, but it is what it is, and I love it anyway after it's 2 millennium "under cover"
   In fact it allready has a home in my "Greek" case, I am very pleased with this little group of uncleaned.. A MFB, a roman republic, and I'm only a few coins into the lot..( although I probably have picked the low hanging fruit, the rest will be a little harder..)

 

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