Problem with ID with this one

[merlin]

Hi!

I finished of cleaning my 5 first uncleaned roman coins. One was totaly illisible and 3 of them were very easy to find the ID except this one.... Can you help me please to find what is this one please....

Thanks for your help!

[snorkelpaleis]

Hello Merlin,

This is it:

Obv: MAXIMIANVS AVG
Rev: GENIO POP-VLI ROMANI

SIS in exe

Rated: R2

quarter-folles minted between 305-306

[Pscipio]

Looks like a very poor cast fake.

Lars

[Steve Minnoch]

Looks like a very poor cast fake.

Lars

I was thinking a victim of electrolysis, but it could be.

Steve

[merlin]

What did you suspect from cast?? It should be an old casting??

[Scotvs Capitis]

What did you suspect from cast?? It should be an old casting??

Welcome to the forum.

One might ask if this coin was a cast forgery because there is no patina left and the coin is shiny bare metal. It is very undesirable and not a pleasing look for an ancient coin. Because it has pock marks and porous holes, it appears to be a cast coin. Hole are a sign of casting, which is used by forgers to make fakes. But electrolysis or harsh chemical cleaning will also leave holes and pores.

If you are new to cleaning coins, join us down in the uncleaned coin section of this FORVM. Methods that remove all patina is not the goal of cleaning, it usually destroys the coin's visual appeal, value and natural protection from the elements.

[merlin]

Thanks all of you to the info!

I will read this section now!

[snorkelpaleis]

I don't think this coin is cast, the softness on the coin is due to harsh cleaning.
Why would anyone cast a 'cheap' coin, make it dirty and sell it as uncleaned so someone eventually cleans a cast fake?

[black-prophet]

Looks like it might be a rock tumbler victim.

[Robert_Brenchley]

It looks like a genuine abuse victim to me too. Never mind, we've all done it. Next time, use olive oil or distilled water to start with, combined with gentle brushing or scraping. Chemicals do have a legitimate place, but only if you're sure what you're doing.

[merlin]

In some case, did the electrolisys can have some greats results?? And what about the chemical, did they had the same effects as the electro (remove the patina)??

[wileyc]

Merlin

   Welcome to forum, I do not consider my self a "expert" in anything other than mistakes, but I have learned a great deal by reading this discussion forum and following up on my own reading.

  Though I confess to have tried electrolysis, I have felt for me it is not productive and does not lead to a attractive coin. Others here  rightfully have other opinions but it seems as a whole it is not a recommended cleaning technigue and does remarkably reduce the value of a coin. The original patina of a coin acquired over time, offers protection and a certain grace. I like the comment I read here once we do not own these coins but are caretakers, they have been here for many years and hopefully for many more after we are gone.

  Over time I have found patience, mechnical cleaning under magnification, soaking and a variety of other techniques productive. Due to budget and personality I like uncleaned  coins, but occasionally buy a coin to fit a spot in my collection. Check out the cleaning section of the discussion, post some coins that you are cleaning and want advice on. Buy some coins from Joe!!  Its a pretty welcoming group here. Where else can a beginner like me share and ask experts from around the world questions about ancient coins and get treated with such respect!!

Cordially

CW

[Cibalia]

Hello Merlin,

This is it:

Obv: MAXIMIANVS AVG
Rev: GENIO POP-VLI ROMANI

SIS in exe

Rated: R2

quarter-folles minted between 305-306

A good example of outdated rating. I dig these up every week.
Mind you, i  believe it was only Siscia who produced these quarter follis coins, and I live down the road from there.

[TomX]

Mind you, i  believe it was only Siscia who produced these quarter follis coins, and I live down the road from there.

Wow.

I live in the USA and obviously these types of antiquities just can't be found.
Indian pottery and other things are common. I live in an area with rich
deposits of fossils. Pulling a 1500 year old coin out of the ground sounds strange.

A friend of mine in England flipped me a huge Roman coin one day and told
me he found it while digging in his garden. I didn't believe him at first.
It just seems incredible that these pieces of metal withstand the ages in the
ground.

Do you go out with metal detector? Is the region going dry of coins to be found?

Tom

[merlin]

Same thing for me, i live near the richelieu river in Quebec and your chance to discover something with 1500 years old are very scarce. If you are a diver and lucky, you can find some artefacts from the french and indians war or the 1775 americain revolution. You have a chance to discover those thing like that near your town.

[khingila]

Most of those Indian artifacts are thousands of years older than you suspect!

[merlin]

It depend wich period of occupation  they belong.

[khingila]

Indeed. Here in Indiana, where the prehistory is actually quite similar to Quebec, the major occupations were in the Archaic Period  c. 9000 to 5000 years ago and the Middle Woodland Adena-Hopewell about 2,000 years ago. Surprisingly, although our state is named Indiana, there were no aboriginal people here at all when the first Europeans arrived. The last pre-contact habitation had been at Angel Mounds in the extreme SW corner of the state at the confluence of the Wabash and Ohio rivers from about AD 1100-1400.

 I focused on Great Lakes and Ohio Valley archaeology as an anthropology major at IU in the 70s and 80s. I always get a kick from the look on a friend's face when I'm asked to identify an "arrow head" which "might be a couple of hundred years old" and I tell them it's closer to 8000 years old! Pretty much the same reaction you get when you tell folks that you can buy a nice identifiable Roman coin for under $10... 

Dave

[Bamba123]

Depends on what your looking for, here in the St Louis area we used to be a shallow temperate sea and I used to go down by the Mississippi river and some creek beds even some cut thrus on the interstate and pull out 450,000,000 year old coral and shells.  The majority of the state is limestone and old sea bottom.  fun stuff.

Jim

[merlin]

We have the same here around Montreal  with the Champlain sea who left many fossils (shell) in the limestone.

[Robert_Brenchley]

I grew up in Oxford, much of which is built on a 180-million-year-old coral reef.