PDA

View Full Version : Couple hours out today - Roman coins - Southern France



Restoring Your Finds
07-23-2014, 02:03 PM
Hello everybody,

I went out today, only for a couple hours, on of my permissions. The landowner had worked the field, but he only made a test. I had a strip of 5 to 6 yards but over hundreds yards long. I decided to hit a specific place on top of the hill. I did maybe a hundred yard long but ended up finding things only over a very specific area, maybe only 25 to 30 yards long. (and 5 yards wide)

The result :

From top left to bottom right : a Gallienus antoninianus, which has lost its silver, an unknown roman coin (Constantinus II?), a Postumus antoninianus, which has kept at least, if not all, its silver and a double tournois. (17th century) On the far right is a strange and very little bottle neck. Both roman Emperors, Gallienus and Postumus date back to the second half od the 3rd century AD.
I am included 2 close ups of the Postumus antoninianus. The coin looks way better in real !

40917409184091940920

Some history :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallienus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postumus

aloldstuff
07-23-2014, 02:57 PM
Nice digs for only having that small area to work. Your knowledge of the coins is amazing and thanks for the history lesson.

don in ny
07-23-2014, 04:43 PM
Great finds. It's amazing how much early coinage is in the ground there.

Restoring Your Finds
07-23-2014, 05:13 PM
Cleaning the Postumus Antoninianus and the silver is coming out.

Here is what it would look like :

40921

Restoring Your Finds
07-23-2014, 05:39 PM
Here it si after a little bit of cleaning. Will hold on a little until I get better tools. But silver is definitely coming out. Almost all of it.

4092240923

Obverse reads "MONETA AVG"

li tom
07-23-2014, 05:52 PM
Nice looking Postumus.By the 260's Roman "silver" coins were so debased as to be just bronze dipped in a silver wash.

Restoring Your Finds
07-24-2014, 04:52 AM
Nice looking Postumus.By the 260's Roman "silver" coins were so debased as to be just bronze dipped in a silver wash.

Correct. And you may see that on the pics. The Postumus one has almost kept all its silver but you can guess copper on some places. The Gallienus one lost all its silver.

Restoring Your Finds
07-24-2014, 05:29 AM
About to stop cleaning the Postumus Antoninianus

4092940930