This coin has spent two years in my safe in a pvc free flip, and it has spent three years on the windowsill open to the air, placed with some papers. It’s been fun to watch it change. The next location I’m putting it in is the closet, with my clothing and some other papers. Predictions on future colors?
Got this one really cheap a couple years ago considering the color. I’ve had it professionally looked at a few times and all professional opinions say it is natural, so don’t come at me saying it’s artificial!
the sixth planet in our solar system, son of Uranus, father of Jupiter, and the titan depicted on the obverse of this republican denarius.
Saturn came from a generation of beings that existed before the Olympian gods. Born from the sky (Uranus) and the earth (Gaia), Saturn was not a god but a titan. He overthrew the rule of his father, and ruled during the mythological golden age, along with 11 other titans. Plagued by prophecy dealt to him by his own parents, he was destined to be overthrown by one of his own children. So he devoured them. Longer story short, Zeus/Jupiter and his siblings ended up overthrowing their father Saturn in a great war called the Titanomachy, and the Saturn was thrown into the underworld, called Tartarus.
There are two identifying features on this coin which point to this being Saturn, the sickle and the stone. He used the sickle to overthrow his father, leading to his rise in power. In the plot to overthrow Saturn, Zeus/Jupiter’s mother gave him a stone swaddled in cloth, tricking him. Saturn ate the stone, thinking it was his son. This trick would lead to the end of Saturns reign.
This painting by Francisco Goya was painted sometime between 1820 and 1823, and is believed to depict Saturn devouring one of his own children. Mythology can become very dark, sometimes scary. But collecting coins is always fun!