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Why ancients need weight and diameter
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15 posts in this topic

On 1/15/2022 at 10:40 AM, RWB said:

Nice. I hope posters read it before they try to identify an ancient coin.

They won't. However, it will help regulars be aware of that aspect, so if someone pushes back, those not as familiar with ancients will understand and can explain exactly why the question is asked.

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On 1/15/2022 at 10:55 AM, JKK said:

I think most of the regulars accept this principle, but it might be easier if someone just explained it. Okay:

  1. Diameter plus metal are our biggest tells on denomination. Denomination governs where in the book we look, or which coins on Wildwinds at least are worth examining. We can't tell how big the coin is from a picture without context. It is reasonable to ask the poster to help us to help them.
  2. Weight tends to be a confirming factor. Confirming factors are important. I have an Ephesian piece that is way too small for what it is, and the consensus is it's lost some of its brassy metal to some sort of clipping or other diameter reduction. If I were hunting for that coin, and both diameter and weight were proportionately low but it was otherwise a match, I'd probably think I found it. Same is true of my profile coin, a Diocletian Greek Imperial piece. It's too small. The only thing like it in the book is something that tells me how large it was before someone filed it off.
  3. We always care about authenticity. While correct weight and diameter do not prove authenticity, incorrect weight and diameter do suggest a high hink factor.

So that's mostly it. Just makes it easier.

I suppose that for some of us, failure to include that information feels like a bit of an affront. It can be interpreted as "imma do wut i want f u now ur job is 2 give me teh info so just serve me minion." Put literately, "I want your knowledge but I can't be bothered to make it easier for you. It's all about me, me, me." I for one love looking up ancient coins, but if someone can save me a number of blind alleys, I think they should be eager to do so. When I want free help from other people, I don't come in with a sense of lazy entitlement. I try humility. Some of the inquiries remind me of the eh-holes who used to interrupt my lunch at the convention center, where I'd be sitting way off by myself eating and reading a book. They'd barge right up to me and ask "How do I get to Rainier Square?" without even simple manners. Their suits and rudeness were to be taken as their right to be served by the lowly minions around them. (I always sent them down to where I knew the peepshows were.)

I have everything I need incase I come across another ancient coin, except what to use to check the diameter. I'm getting there tho.:bigsmile:

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Have a quick question, when checking the metal of the coin , is it safe to use the gold and silver test. I know weight tells all. But can weight be a little tricky sometimes. It makes me feel I wouldn't want to scrape the side of the coin neither, by using the liquid test.  thanks 

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On 1/15/2022 at 12:34 PM, Oldhoopster said:

I would not recommend performing a scratch test on ancients.  The silver/gold levels can vary depending on the time period, mint, etc.  I don't see the need to add damage, even in a discrete location.   Just my opinion, your mileage may vary.

Didn't think that would be vised Thanks 

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Excellent post, Jonathan and very necessary.  I think ancients confuse people more than any other kind of coin.  I hope that everyone wanting info on ancients reads this first.  It'd probably make the process better for everyone involved.  I wonder if we can get this pinned.....

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If you can ID the emperor (for Roman imperial), the following is a good site to search for ancient coin identification. You can also use it for Greek and Roman republic issues. Once you have a little experience, it's not much harder than attributing large cents by Sheldon number

I also believe theY have a partial legend search.  

Www.wildwinds.com

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On 1/15/2022 at 4:17 PM, Oldhoopster said:

If you can ID the emperor (for Roman imperial), the following is a good site to search for ancient coin identification. You can also use it for Greek and Roman republic issues. Once you have a little experience, it's not much harder than attributing large cents by Sheldon number

I also believe theY have a partial legend search.  

Www.wildwinds.com

One thing about Wildwinds I learned from my ill fated and impossible Faustina II project.......Wildwinds is not complete.  It was what lulled me into the incorrect belief that a full set of known Faustina II types was something that was remotely possible.  It's a good resource for a lot of ancient coins, but it doesn't have everything.  Or even close to everything.  OCRE seems to be more complete than Wildwinds, but maybe a bit less user friendly than Wildwinds:

http://numismatics.org/ocre/

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On 1/15/2022 at 10:59 AM, Hinkle said:

I have everything I need incase I come across another ancient coin, except what to use to check the diameter. I'm getting there tho.:bigsmile:

Ruler that can measure in mm. If it's odd-shaped, measure the narrowest and widest points and average them.

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On 1/15/2022 at 5:47 PM, Rummy13 said:

Thank you @JKK. I for one like learning and you and other here teach me so much. It seems to me I am spending more one books and research, then one the coins I get.

Welcome to my world.

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Thank you @JKKfor that. I have a couple ancient coins Id like to know more about. They are nothing special but its very interesting to me to be able to own a couple pieces of history over 1000 years old. I will dig them out and get the weight and diameter of them and start couple threads with them.  I would love to know the denomination and what the inscriptions are on the coins. And other history about them if its available. Ive tried to look them up before but I got lost. Im useless when it comes to looking up ancients. Thank you very much. I will try to get to them later this evening or tomorrow. Ill dig up my scales and digital caliper. Thank you very much. 

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On 1/15/2022 at 6:35 PM, Hoghead515 said:

Thank you @JKKfor that. I have a couple ancient coins Id like to know more about. They are nothing special but its very interesting to me to be able to own a couple pieces of history over 1000 years old. I will dig them out and get the weight and diameter of them and start couple threads with them.  I would love to know the denomination and what the inscriptions are on the coins. And other history about them if its available. Ive tried to look them up before but I got lost. Im useless when it comes to looking up ancients. Thank you very much. I will try to get to them later this evening or tomorrow. Ill dig up my scales and digital caliper. Thank you very much. 

You should post them. We have a number of sharp ancients guys on here.

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