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Surface Silvering and Silver Enrichment of the Surface Layer of AD 253/4 Bosporan Staters: Electron Probe Microanalysis Data

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Abstract

The paper presents the results of electron-probe microanalysis of the surface of two groups of Bosporan staters dated AD 253/254 that were minted in the names of the kings Rhescuporis V and Pharsanzes. For each group, a special technique to enrich the surface of the coins with silver is established to be used. In the Rhescuporis V coinage, depletion silvering is first carried out by tempering and oxidizing the coin blank, followed by its treatment with organic acids and forging. There is no silver plating on his coins. A silver coating with a thickness of up to 10 µm is revealed on Pharsanzes staters. The chlorine, calcium, sodium, and magnesium elements that are first discovered in the surface layer suggest the use of a special paste for silvering the coins of this king, the components of which could be chlorides of silver, sodium, ammonium, mercury, potassium hydrotartrate, and chalk as a thickener. Both techniques for enriching the surface of coins with silver are also used in Roman coinage in the second half of the 3rd–early 4th century AD.

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Funding

The study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, project no. 22-28-00057.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University, 455000, Magnitogorsk, Russia

    M. G. Abramzon, Yu. Yu. Efimova, N. V. Koptseva & D. A. Gorlenko

  2. Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 117936, Moscow, Russia

    M. G. Abramzon & I. A. Saprykina

  3. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University, 295007, Simferopol, Russia

    T. N. Smekalova

Authors
  1. M. G. Abramzon
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  2. Yu. Yu. Efimova
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  3. N. V. Koptseva
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  4. D. A. Gorlenko
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  5. I. A. Saprykina
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  6. T. N. Smekalova
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Correspondence to M. G. Abramzon.

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Translated by A. Ivanov

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Abramzon, M.G., Efimova, Y.Y., Koptseva, N.V. et al. Surface Silvering and Silver Enrichment of the Surface Layer of AD 253/4 Bosporan Staters: Electron Probe Microanalysis Data. J. Surf. Investig. 17, 1127–1133 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1027451023050154

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1027451023050154

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