The One That Started It All!

Welcome! I thought the best way to start my blog would be to share the coin that started me down the road of collecting ancient coins. Here is the coin that hooked me!

AR Denarius(18mm, 3.08g ) Struck ?
Obv: IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG Laureate head right
Rev:PON MAX TR P COS ? Vespasian seated right, holding branch and scepter RIC hmmm... not sure!?


Not much to look at. Pretty rough actually, can't even fully attribute it, (if you can, please e-mail me) What makes this coin so special is that I found it in my very first batch of uncleaned coins back in 2000. The entire lot was pretty rough, and didn't yield much. In fact I was pretty disapointed in the whole experience and probably would have gave up the hobby before I had really started. I decided to give this "zapping" thing a try. I built a simple zapper and hooked up the worst looking coins in the bunch. After a few minutes I could start to see details poking through the crust. Not believing that I could have anything worth much I hit the coin with a brass brush, then would zap it a few more minutes, and hit it with the brush again. The coin looked more grayish black than silver, until the last time I hit it with the brass brush. I saw the glint of silver and immediately regretted using the brass brush so vigorously! I soaked it in distilled water for a few days, then gave it a brief bath in lemon juice. You see the results!

Hindsight tell me that I could have done a much gentler job of cleaning, this little coin suffered greatly under my newbie fingers. However, had it not been for this one coin, I doubt I would have continued in the hobby. I kept the coin at my computer desk for several days just so I could gawk at it. I have much nicer coins in my collection now, but none mean as much to me as this little beauty! Thanks for reading!