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 Replies: 19 / Views: 3,943 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
567 Posts |
Man this is rough guys. I was handling a coin by an incredibly thin part of the planchet, and a bit of it snapped off. I won't lie and say I don't feel a little guilty for breaking part of history. But I suppose it happens. Perhaps it can be a lesson to us all.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4963 Posts |
 What coin was it? |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
567 Posts |
This is what remains of it, it was a hemidrachm from Corinth.   |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7066 Posts |
Ah, I was going to ask if it was AR, and now see that it was. It may well have had some internal crystallization, which of course can make a coin very brittle and susceptible to breaking.
Sorry about the experience. Too bad...
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Moderator
 United States
23731 Posts |
I've had it happen on a bronze coin slipped out of my hand and fell on a hard surface. Sorry that happened, you might be able to put it together with a little super glue.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1812 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4963 Posts |
^ I think you may have found a buyer.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
You don't want to loose the parts.
There is no loss in value in this case, if you stick it back together with Super Glue; the loss in value has already been sustained.
This coin is almost certainly a victim of silver crystallization, which often cannot be detected with a simple visual inspection.
Silver crystallization is most often found with ancient coins, because it can take centuries for the crystallization to come about.
Occasionally, silver crystallization can be recognized by tiny parallel ridging on the surface of the coin.
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Same applies with Roman glassware.
It MUST be handled with great care. Glass is a supercooled liquid, where the liquid freezes on cooling, before crystals of glass have a chance to form. However, over centuries, like silver, glass can very slowly crystallize, thus greatly weakening the material.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4963 Posts |
Quote:
There is no loss in value in this case I'm familiar with ancients, and this doesn't exactly make sense to me. Are people really willing to pay just as much for a coin held together with superglue? |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
You are not paying just as much for an unbroken coin,
you are paying just as much as for a broken coin.
Repairing a coin in no way improves it's value.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4963 Posts |
Quote:
the loss in value has already been sustained. I guess I missed that part. |
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Moderator
United States
23731 Posts |
The loss of value occurred when the coin broke, repairing the coin as Sel states does not improves it's value. It only preservers it to before it was broken. If the coin was to be resold the restoration should be told to the buyer.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
I have never repaired a crystallized coin but
I would think such a repair would be very easily seen under a 10 x loupe.
Nevertheless with such a coin, especially if eBayed, it should be noted that it has been repaired.
Arael: I guess that this story should teach us all,
that when handling ancient silver coins,
it follows that they all should be handled with care.
You never know for sure which ancient silver coin has suffered, or has not suffered, from from silver crystallization.
Edited by sel_69l
10/26/2015 07:24 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
567 Posts |
Yes it's certainly been a valuable lesson. I think that I will leave it in it's broken state as a reminder and lesson to myself. We can't change the past, that coin has broken and that's how it shall remain, and I can just hope to not do it again.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1812 Posts |
#1) The only reason I do not collect Ancient Coins is because I focused my education the last 20 years on error coins & currency and not educated enough to know the difference between real and fake Ancients.. And with ebay allowing fakes of darn near everything being sold so they get their piece of the sale, I find it easier to just avoid them. Lord knows how many fake cutting errors made from sheets currently on ebay is disgusting, and when I send the seller a message, along with uncut currency sheet verification, they ignore the message. #2) In my opinion I would place all three pieces in a Eagle or Silver Dollar cardboard holder.. I would think that glueing it together would lose eye appeal and value, then again, I do not know the coins history or value, and as a error collector that posted a double strike Ancient that NGC body bagged as unknown on this forum a couple years back, was ID'ed almost instantly here by the experts & surprised that NGC did not holder the coin. #3) my user name Broken-Coin is what my granddaughter called multi-struck error coins when she was about 3 or 4 years old... |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4963 Posts |
Quote:Lord knows how many fake cutting errors made from sheets currently on ebay is disgusting You can tell based on serial numbers, can't you? |
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Replies: 19 / Views: 3,943 |
Posted 10/25/2015 9:12 pm
A genuine Broken Coin 
