Coin talk > Uncleaned

Bronze disease (naively thinking I was immune)

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Per D:
Thank you for your input!

It’s probably too late to return the coin, especially as I’ve been meddling with it. I actually don’t mind keeping it, even if the patina/toning will be ruined in the process of trying to halt the BD corrosion.

When it comes to deposits and thick and/or uneven patina, I’m really of two minds. In general, I think it’s best to leave ancient coins as they are (whatever that means) while also realizing that cleaning, smoothing, minor tooling, re-toning and so on are much more common than I used to believe.

Below is an example from my collection where the cleaning probably went a little too far. The first is the seller’s photo, the second is from the ROMA’s e-sale where it sold a couple of years ago. I suppose the coin looked quite bad when it was dug up (and I wonder if the missing piece was amputated during an earlier cleaning).

Heliodromus’s coin is interesting: it’s been brutally over-cleaned, but the details are also beautiful. It shouldn’t be difficult to find a buyer, especially if it’s been Jax’d or treated with liver of sulphur or something. (The coin doctors at PNO Numismatics wouldn’t hesitate to spray it with gold paint and sell it as an unrecorded solidus, of course.)

As for BAC, I haven’t followed their auctions closely, but I remember they sold many, many aureliani a couple of years ago. The coins probably came from the same hoard as all had the same appearance: intact silvering under a thick layer of that green stuff that comes off with patience, skill and a scalpel.

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