Flan Characteristics

The flans on which ancient coins were struck were made by a variety of methods, but their flan making technologies were limited and often the flans were imperfectly formed, and many suffered some deformation during striking. Under "strike" we discussed how flans with thin areas can affect striking quality, but in this section we will discuss how flan shapes and sizes, as well as deformation during striking, affect quality.

RAGGED FLANS

Perfectly round ancient coins with perfectly formed edges are rare and when they are encountered they should be carefully examined for authenticity. Minor irregularities that do not affect the designs are normal, to be expected, and unless they significantly detract from the eye appeal they have little effect on the value. A few ancient coins, such as Persian siglos and Aginia staters, were intentionally struck on oval flans to accommodate oval or elongated designs. However, most ancient coins were designed to be struck on relatively round flans, but unfortunately they did not always come out that way.

Although gVF for wear, with average centering (only a tiny part of the bust's truncation and the tops of a few letters on the reverse are off the flan), and reasonably well struck (no weak areas), this coin has a major problem. The flan was probably very irregular when made, and possibly significantly deformed during striking, and I think most collectors would agree it has reduced eye appeal. While some collectors would find it interesting, most would agree it's value is far less than if it had been struck on a nice round flan. Typically the coin would be described has having a "very ragged flan".

ODD SHAPED FLANS

At first glance one gets the impression this Tiberius denarius is slightly off-center. In reality only the tips of a few letters are off the flan, making it actually well-centered for the issue (most specimens of this type will be missing up to a third of the inscriptions). The oval flan created this impression and thus reduced the eye-appeal of this specimen, slightly detracting from its value when compared to a specimen with similar centering on a round flan, although it is still worth more than a normal specimen of this type, with a third of the inscription off the flan.

These two Otacilia Severa sestertii have very different flan shapes, and I believe most collectors would agree that all else being equal the round one on the left would be far more desirable (and thus of higher value) than the squared off one on the right.

Some ancient coins come to us on much odder shaped flans. I have seen a Corinthian stater on a triangular flan (very strange looking coin). One day I hope to find a few images of examples of some of these peculiarities.

SMALL FLANS

Most ancient coins were struck to specific weight standards and making flans of the correct weight was probably the most important consideration for the inspectors in the ancient mints (although for some issues it appears the average weight of a large number of coins was more important than the actual weight of individual coins). For most issues there was an attempt to produce flans of the correct weight which were broad enough to take the entire design of the coin, but a flan that was too thick and thus too small to hold the full design would often still be used. Coins struck on these small thick flans could often be dead center on the flan and still have parts of the design off the edges, which is a serious defect and should always be noted in a coins description.

This Republican denarius is just such a coin. While technically as well centered on the available flan as it can be (there is no way to get any more of the design on the flan than there currently is), it must be considered substandard because parts of the design are off the flan. In this case it is particularly serious because at first glance it can easily be mistaken for an anonymous denarius of the type listed in Roman Silver Coins volume 1 as Anonymous-20j. It is actually a denarius of C. Antestius of the Antestia-1 type, but with most of the moneyer's name off the flan behind Roma's head (just the tips of some letters are visible). Since the moneyer's name is the most important part of a coin in this series, this coin is worth only a fraction of what a similar specimen would be if well-centered on a full sized flan.

While the majority of coins with flans too small to hold the designs are considered substandard, there are instances where this is normal for the issue, and such coins are collected and priced accordingly (with examples on large flans with full inscriptions commanding significant premiums). Denarii of Otho, and the earliest denarii of Septimius Severus (especially Antioch mint issues) were both struck during Civil wars when large numbers of coins were needed quickly, and other than getting the weights right little care was taken in flan production and striking.

SPLIT FLANS

Flan splits are open, usually "V" shaped, fissures around the edges, normally opening up as the flan is stressed during striking. Very small splits occur on many (even most) ancient coins, and do not significantly change the value unless they affect the designs or eye appeal. Coins free of such small splits should be worth a premium.

Unfortunately, some coins have large flan splits which significantly effect the designs and detract from the eye appeal, in which case the value of the coins are greatly reduced, and they should be accurately described.

This Septimius Severus denarius has minor flan splits of a type that one should expect to see on many ancient coins. They do not effect the designs and have little affect on the coin's eye appeal or value.

The splits on this Julian II bronze are a little more serious, encroaching onto the inscriptions and significantly reducing the coins eye-appeal. Its value is only about half what it would be without the splits.

Flan splits can become even much more dramatic than on this Julian II, sometimes extending more than halfway across a coin. Interestingly, such very large flan splits are most often seen on large Roman colonial bronzes, and often these large bronzes are rare with some types only coming up for sale once in several years. A collector serious about owning such a rare type may have to accept any example that comes his way even if it is seriously split, and the degree to which the price is effected becomes a very personal choice. Fortunately flan splits, unlike flan cracks, are generally stable and do not represent a serious risk of a coin breaking.

CRACKED FLANS

Flan cracks differ from flan splits in that they do not open into a "V", and in some cases may not be open at all which makes them easy to overlook and difficult to see on an image. They generally form due to stress during striking, and while they can occur on any ancient coin, they are very rare on gold, less common on bronze, relatively common on silver coins, but very common on certain series of very pure but thin silver coins such as late Roman argentii, siliqua, and miliarense (on which more than 50% of specimens will have a crack).

On gold and bronze coins cracks tend to be stable and while slightly detracting normally do not represent any risk to the coin. The same is generally true of thicker and lower purity silver coins such as denarii and Greek silver. However highly pure silver coins tend to be internally crystallized (which happens to them long after striking) making them slightly fragile and when thin (like argentii, siliqua and miliarense) the addition of a flan crack presents a significant danger of breakage if the coins are miss-handled.

This Sybarus stater at first looks intact, with a slight dark line barely noticeable on the bull's rump on the obverse, and almost nothing out of the ordinary on the reverse. Click on the image for an enlargement, which shows the reverse where the crack starts at the left edge and extends in a jagged line across about 2/3 of the coin. When viewed in the hand the eye appeal is not effected, but the value certainly is as this coin must be handled with extreme care or it is likely to break.

FLAN PREPARATION MARKS

Some ancient coins have disfiguring surface marks resulting from measures taken to flatten and smooth the flans prior to striking. It is likely the issuers intended for these marks to be obliterated during the striking process (and often they are on well struck specimens), but traces of them remain on many specimens. Because these are part of the minting process, they do not represent damage to a coin and one must be careful not to confuse them with damage. On some series of coins where such marks are present on most specimens, they are considered a normal feature of the coin and the value is not effected (although specimens without them may command a premium). On a series where they are not normally present, they can effect the value. It takes experience and research to know how this will apply to any given series.

There are two varieties of these marks that are commonly encountered:

1) FILE MARKS The flan for this Amisos bronze was filed with a course file prior to striking. It is likely they were re-using old coins as flans, and the file was used to remove the old designs prior to striking the new one. The marks were obliterated on the more strongly struck parts of the coin, but remain clear in the fields and around the edges. Most Amisos bronzes of this type will show such marks so in this case it is a normal feature of the coin and does not affect the value (coins without them do bring a premium), but identical marks seen on a coin that would not normally show them would dramatically reduce the value.

2) CENTER PUNCHES and CUTTING RINGS This Ptolemaic bronze exhibits a very clear center punch on both sides. On high grade, or weakly struck specimens, one often sees concentric rings centered on the punch marks, suggesting the punches result from a rotating tool used to cut away excess metal from the flan's surface prior to striking (which is why I refer to them as cutting rings). While the cutting rings are normally fairly shallow and usual obliterated during striking, the centering punches are much deeper and almost always are still visible on the coin after striking.

These marks appear on only a limited number of ancient coin series, most notably Ptolemaic bronze where they are almost always present, as well as certain other series of bronze coins from Phoenicia, Syria and many Roman Colonial coins from Moesia Inferior (and their are others), and one needs some experience to realize when they are a normal feature on a coin. Generally, they are accepted and unless a serious detraction from the eye-appeal they do not significantly effect the value.

Note how on this specimen the center punch is nicely in the field between the two portraits, and does not detract from the designs in any way. Now look at the specimen below:

The punch is somewhat off-center and because of it Zeus has no nose. While this is a significant detraction from the design, surprisingly it does not detract a great deal from the overall coin, and since most specimens from this series will show a similar problem (specimens with the punch only in the fields are uncommon), it does not significantly effect the collectability of the specimen.

This is by no means a complete listing of flan problems that occur, but I hope it helps you to understand that some flan problems are abnormal and when they occur they reduce a coin's value. However, some things that appear to be flan problems are normal to the issue of that particular coin and thus does not effect that coin's collectability or value. You will need some experience to really get a feel for which is which.

Copyright   © 1997-2005   R & T Enterprises Ltd.