Take Care When Buying Ancient Coins

Article by Brian Kritt, Numismatist Magazine

As a Dealer in ancient coins for nearly 30 years, I examine thousands of pieces annually for potential purchase. I probably reject more than 90 percent of these just because of deficiencies in quality. Granted, my clients tend to be more attuned to such issues. However, I believe collectors should exercise great care at the point of purchase to ensure continued aesthetic enjoyment of their coins and avoid dramatic financial losses at resale. It is no accident that so many ancient coins in dealers inventories are flawed. The percentage of well-made and well-preserved coins is small, and the sludge is greatly available to dealers at low prices, especially in this age of metal detector finds. The few, better-quality coins tend to sell quickly, leaving many inventories with the ballast. So what factors affect quality?
Centering and Strike
Since ancient coins were struck by hand on planchets loosely placed on the bottom (or anvil) die, their designs often are off-center. Coins only slightly off-center should not to be avoided on this basis alone, but specimens with partial inscriptions or missing major design elements are unacceptable. In particular, coins showing animals
or humans with missing or incomplete heads are death. Tarentum staters have a dolphin rider on one side and a horseman on the other. I have seen examples with the riders head gone, the dolphins nose missing, the horse decapitated and the jockeys head off the flan. Partial inscriptions are bad too, especially if the name of the city or ruler is affected. Even if the images and legends are relatively complete, off center strikes are visually distracting. The punch or reverse die was handheld during striking. If the die was not properly aligned, the design often did not transfer completely to the planchet, resulting in areas of flat, weak or missing detail. Perfection is not essential, but good strikes are very desirable.
Surface Condition:
Corrosion and Tooling
Most ancient coins remained buried in the earth until fairly recently and, as such, suffered the damaging effects of chemicals in the soil. Porous, irregular or corroded surfaces are a deal breaker for me, and I avoid them. In addition, silver coins can exhibit crystallization,â a deterioration of the surface or interior metal that often appears as a geometric or criss-cross pattern, almost like a checkerboard. Since crystallization is aesthetically damaging, I assess it much the same as corrosion. On the other hand, crystallization often is a good indicator of authenticity, since it takes hundreds of years to develop. (A few recent forgeries struck on crystallized, low-grade, genuine Greek coins have proved deceptive to dealers and collectors.) Most dealers and suppliers know that corroded coins are difficult to sell. Consequently, there is a cottage industry in tooling the surfaces of such coins to improve their appearance. This usually can be detected as a pattern of regular scratches in the fields or around the devices. A 10x magnifier will help you identify such alteration. The only thing worse than a corroded coin is a corroded coin that has been tooled.
Buy ancient coins with care to ensure longtime
aesthetic enjoyment and avoid financial loss.
Buffing or polishing also is a concern. In this case, the resulting scratches are fairly random. (Imagine the action of an abrasive, rotating wire brush or wheel.) Most ancient silver coins have been chemically cleaned at some point in their history. I don't usually mind, as long as the result is pleasing. (I avoid those with that chalky, bleach-white
look.) Natural re-toning over a few years actually can be very pleasing. But beware of artificially toned ancients, which frequently are monochromatic or bluish. Closely related to toning is the phenomenon of horned silver,that is, thick, uniform dark-brown or purple oxidation that bonds to the coinage metal. Removing this toning can reveal an unattractive, corroded surface.
Bronzes: Tooling and Smoothing
Bronze coins are subject to even more surface problems than silver. Collectors have favored Roman sesterii for centuries. In the 19th century, many numismatists tooled or smoothed the surfaces of these coins to improve their macroscopic appearance. Today, a number of dealers distinguish smoothing from tooling. The former involves leveling the fields to remove corrosion; the latter is the recarving of design elements. Although by these definitions tooling is worse than smoothing, both constitute an alteration of the surface metal using a tooling process. Dealers who make this distinction often have coins for sale they describe as smoothed, but rarely any they describe as tooled.You be the judge.
Style Considerations
Since ancient coins were struck from many different dies created by a great variety of craftsmen, artistry and execution vary considerably. Many coins described as exhibiting superior style rarely do. Good style is a matter of taste. Only experience can help you recognize it, so look at a lot of coins.
Compromise
Any collection not composed entirely of hoard coins will evidence compromises in quality. The time to buy an interesting or rare coin with some problems is after you've developed your collection goals and you've convinced yourself you won't find a better one, at least in penny board mentality, attractive, relatively uniform collections are within reach of most collectors who are patient and willing to assess the quality of each potential purchase.