Roman?

[Cymro]

Well, our previously unproductive permission seems to be showing its hand - we dropped by literally for an hour on the way home from the shore and my buddy dug this up - in the same field which produced the Edward III groat.

We haven't had time to do any more than cursory research on it, as we went on from there to court another prospective permission (which was granted . . .  )

We think it's Roman but no idea what, so we would be grateful for any information at all, along with any advice on cleaning it.

Thanks in advance

[Chef Geoff]

A lovely find Cymro it's he of wall building fame Hadrian, as for cleaning just try wiping it with a cotton bud first and see what will come off after that we get in to spells and potions teritory

[probono]

Well it's a denarius, reverse is PM TR P COS III, Victory advancing right - I can't find the exact type on wildwinds (it'll be in RSC no doubt about it) - apparently dated to ~123AD - when the wall was started

my personal preference to clean this one would be to wrap it in kitchen foil, put it in a pot. Cover it will washing soda, and then pour boiling water over it. Leave it for a while - you'll see the water go scummy and bubbles form on the surface (which you can set fire to if you want). Take the coin out, remove foil, clean with either a horsehair brush / very old tooth brush / cellulose sponge. You might need to repeat this a few times, but you should end up with a nice detailed coin by the looks of it.

[wittsy1]

That's a very nice Roman, well found to you.

[hotmill]

Very nice, great detail!

[Cymro]

Thanks for all the comments, guys. I had a look on the internet this morning to see what I could find out about it, but the whole Roman thing seems to be a minefield. I'd worked out from the dimensions that it was probably a denarius but I couldn't see one exactly the same; so thanks  to probono and Chef for the ID and cleaning suggestions.

To my eternal shame I ruined a lovely 1855 Napoleon III Dix Centimes I found last week by trying a cleaning method I found online, so I'm a bit more cautious now . . . 

The arrangement seems to be that I collect all the rubbish from the sites and my buddy hoovers up the decent finds . . .  Still, so long as one of us does . . .

[Chef Geoff]

Just remember ALL cleaning is destructive to some extent so always start with the most gentle method first and some finds deserve their patina which in many cases gives them their character.
Sorry I didn't know you wanted the inside leg measurement lol your coin has a RIC # 101 (or a variant)
http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/sear5/s3527.html#RIC_0101

[nobby]

If you use a very fine grade sandpaper, taking your time you can see what hadrian would have looked like without a beard

[Cymro]

LOL @ Chef and Nobby 

I usually start with a mill file, about 6 teeth to the inch, then progress through a 120 grit belt on my linisher to a 6" wire brush on the bench grinder.

Is that wrong, then . . . ?

 



 

[Chef Geoff]

No that sounds OK to me but maybe a Dremel in place of the bench grinder

[Cymro]

No, it would take ages to remove all the detail with a Dremel . . . 

[probono]

Aside from the jokes (and sometimes emery cloth can work wonders) - the denarius is silver, so unless it is a plated or Zinc variety then my cleaning method is pretty gentle (apparently used by museums).

Most of the stuff on that coin looks like iron-pan -it'll be very ncie under that junk

[Cymro]

I'm glad you recognised the jokes for what they were. probono 

We can get a good guesstimate of the coin's composition from its weight - we can find its weight and volume, and thence the density of the material so we would know if it was zinc, at least. If it were plated, what would the core be - bronze? Not iron, I'd guess, or it wouldn't be in such good condition after nearly 2000 years.

As suggested, least destructive first.

[dingdong]

Great find Cymru,could do with a Roman down here in Pembroke!!
Hey,anyone out there found any Roman coin down this neck of the woods ?
You can tell me exactly where if you like !!!......LOL!!👍

[Cymro]

Here you go, dingdong:

"James Phillips, in The History of Pembrokeshire (published 1909), records a find of Roman silver coins in Haverfordwest, the earliest dated coin a Valerian and the latest a Claudius Gothicus."

There's gotta be more . . .