Hello!

Ben, I actually have purchased some uncleaned, crusty coins. :)

I purchased twenty from a fella up in Canada. Then ten from another fella in MN, which should be here on Thursday. I figured that doing this from "scratch" will teach me a lot, real quick. Plus I like the idea of cleaning them and bringing them back to life. I keep checking that tracking information to see if it'll be sooner. lol

Have you ever purchased from CrustyRomans.com before...? I wanted to but didn't want to shell out the money just yet until I had better experience.

There is no abbreviation for silvered coins that I'm aware of. Most of the time the denomination of silvered coins is known so you'll see 'Silvered Follis' or whatever the denomination is, otherwise it'll be described as 'Silvered Ae16,' with 16 of course being replaced by that coins actual size. German sellers sometimes list them as 'Silversud.'

Have fun cleaning the dirty coins. It is certainly an art form that takes a long time to master, but the first time you are able to attribute one (and even more the first time you clean a genuinely nice coin that you would have gladly purchased) makes it worth it.

Bronze is AE, silver is AR, and gold is AV.

Silver coins are usually referred to as AR.

Roman bronze coins can be split into the categories AE (bronze) 4 (tiddly) 3 (a bit bigger) 2 (bigger than 3) and 1 (bigger than 2).

A lot of the time you will see AE16 (for example) meaning it is bronze 16mm. Google Roman currencies. There are no standards across the board because they all changed the weights and measurements as the need arose to save money on the content of the coins. It is a mine field!

Don't get too hung up about it in the beginning, it will come.

That's a great big help! I thought the AE 15 meant the size. Is it typical for the exact same coin (i.e. images & metal) to be produced in different sizes? For example, I looked up my coin in the CoinProject website, and they said it should be AE 18. Is that typical to happen?

And can anybody explain me on what Ancient Imports meant by: "gF+/gF+"? Is that like a grading for each side of the coin?

Huh, I could have sworn I had seen silver coins described as 'Ag-etc' but looking now it is indeed Ar. Typically silver denominations are known, and almost always gold ones are known, so they don't come up as much as Ae.

Your coin is Greek, they are generally thicker than the Roman ones of that size. As the Roman Empire headed on towards the later years, boy did those Emperors become cheap. They debased the currency because mines were running out and in later years coins became smaller and thinner.

Once you have had your hands on an LRB (large bronze coin) you will be smitten.

Id good you've found some lots (I hope you didnt overpay!). CrustyRomans arent a company I've bought from before (I buy from detectors, much better and cheaper) and I've not heard anything good or bad. Dirtyoldcoins is a good place - Raz runs a tight shift.

Before you receive the coins, you want to have the theory behind cleaning nailed down. People who poorly clean coins are the bane of the this hobby (that carausius I recently got wouldve been really nice if it had been treated well). The biggest tip I can give you is to exercise patience - I've got a coin in cleaning from Sept 2012 and a few from Dec 2012.