Hands on History – My Roman Coin

World History – Mr. Rindt

You have been given a real Roman coin that is 1500 to 2000 years old. It is not fake. Take care of it. It will be your job to clean it, try to identify it, and then report on the emperor who either appears on it, or may have been in charge during its creation. Be careful with the coin as a replacement will not be available.

Ancient Roman coins can be very valuable. But value is based on condition, not age. Cleaning them up to the metal may actually destroy much of their value. Real antique coin collectors want the coin to have the coating that comes with age (patina) but also want to be able to clearly see the markings so they can identify the coin (attribution). Our coins are small denomination coins, similar to today’s pennies or nickels. If they were of gold or silver they would have much greater value; but being bronze or copper, and dirty and corroded, they probably won’t be as valuable. Instead just enjoy the fact that the coin you have is indeed centuries old.

Imagine who might have handled your coin. These coins were found buried in fields in Eastern Europe. Romans, especially soldiers, would bury their small hoards of coins for safe keeping because they didn’t have banks. Sometimes they would forget exactly where they stashed their change, or they would not be able to come back to retrieve their hoard (killed or wounded in battle). You hold in your hand a piece of history. What stories it could tell you if it could talk!

Today , European farmers continually find small jars that work their way to the surface of their fields during spring plowing time. These are sold to dealers who in turn sell them to other collectors. Check Ebay for ancient coins and you will see a wide variety of these uncleaned coins for sale. Ebay also has many cleaned coins for sale. Most of these are in excellent condition and can be attributed. It is interesting and fun to scan the items. Try it!

Project parameters

The project will comprise of three distinct parts: cleaning, identifying, and the Emperor report. Follow the steps given for each part. Note the value in points of each section.

1)Cleaning: This is the fun part, but be forewarned- there is no magic shortcut! You will need to scrub and pick and experiment with many different ways to clean your coin. Scrubbing the hardest got the most crust off the coin, but some students have scrubbed and actually destroyed the detail on the surface of the coin! So clean carefully. Remember, the purpose of cleaning is to identify the coin! Also, because of the small nature of these coins you will want to have a magnifying glass to see and clean off stubborn dirt/corrosion that obscures the letters. Letters and images will be the way you will identify the coin; so try to identify them!

You must keep a cleaning log to detail how you got your coin clean. Write in complete sentences on the log that you have been given in the packet for your group.

Forexample:

4/22/15 Soaked coin in olive oil overnight and started scrubbing it with a toothbrush. Got some additional dirt off by careful picking with a needle. Coin returned to soak more.

4/25/15 removed coin from oil and scrubbed some more. Tried picking off dirt with needle. Also tried hot glue gun technique. Some letters are now visible.

Etc. Etc.

This sheet will be worth 10 pts. These may prove to be invaluable as a help for future coin cleaners. Please include warnings about what didn’t work and what was harmful. Soaking coins in weird chemical solutions may actually dissolve the coin!So please be careful with your experimentation. The attached sheet will list some suggested ways to try to clean your coin

2)Identifying your coin (attribution): This will be the most difficult part of the process. Ancient coins were mass produced but didn’t have the quality control of modern mints. You will try to identify letters on the front (obverse) and on the back (reverse) of your coin. You should research ancient coins on the internet. Some good sites are as follows:

This site also has a wealth of links. it also has a really neat Possible Inscriptions Finder that is real helpful.

Don't limit yourself to just these. Looking at coins for sale on Ebay may help you find your coin, too.

Try your best to identify the coin but if you can't, it is understandable considering the poor quality of many of the coins. Fill in the form that I provided. Be sure to include basic information such as the coins weight in grams, what the coin is made of, the average diameter of the coin

(measure in two directions and average them). Describe the obverse and the reverse and what do you think is shown on each side. This portion will also be worth 10 pts. You will include the coin itself by taping it to the cleaning log when finished with the report.

3)The final part of your project will be todo areport on one of the Roman emperors. Should you have a coin that you think is of a particular emperor, do the report on him. If you cannot reasonably identify one, choose any emperor to report on. The two page report should be double spaced.

In that report, include information on how people view that person in history. Was he a successful leader or a poor leader? What advancements occurred when he was king? Did his armies win battles or lose battles…which ones? Intrigue and politics often surround the lives of the emperors, so include a paragraph on that topic as well. (Etc.) Be sure to include a bibliography on your sources. This report will be worth 30 pts.

Cleaning information handout #2

When you receive your coins,soak them in soapy water for a few hours. TSP works better than ordinary soap. TSP is a powder that you can buy in most paint and hardware stores. Mix one tablespoon of TSP with three tablespoons of warm water (increase the quantities as necessary to soak the number of coins you have). Put the mixture in a sealed container and shake well. Soak the coins in TSP solution for 5-10 minutes. Then rinse them off, dry them and see how they look. If they look nice stop. But often they need much more work.(This is only a suggested method, not a required one.)

Use a small tooth brush or soft brass bristle brush and brush them gently (You can find these brushes in most hardware stores). Test your brush on a cheaper looking coin first to make sure it is soft enough and doesn't scratch the coins. If you are lucky enough to get a silver coin, do not use the brass brush on it - see the instructions for silver below. Just brush gently, if the coins do not come clean easily stop and go to the next step. For the coins that do come clean easily and look nice, rinse them off and dry them - they are done. Most coins will not come clean with only this first step.

Soak your coins in olive oil (everybody seems to use olive oil, but probably any vegetable oil will work). Some people soak their uncleaned coins in WD40. Few people have the patience to soak them long enough. How long - at least one week, but longer is better. After soaking, start over with the soap (or TSP) and water and the soft brass brush.If they look nice stop the cleaning process. If they are still dirty, soak them in olive oil or WD40 again and start over.

A dental pick is very useful for getting the dirt from corners of the design and legend, but you must be very gentle and careful not to scratch the coin. Hardwood splinters, toothpicks, and Q-tips are also useful.If you use a brass brush alone, you will likely remove the patina and hit shiny metal on the high spots (a very bad thing to do) before you get the dirt out of the corners.

It can help to put the coins in the oven at 200 degrees for 10 minutes after soaking in olive oil and cleaning them with soap (or TSP) and water.

The Due Date for this Project is FridayOctober 2nd.