Authenticity Of Uncleaned Ancient Coins

I've split off your post in another thread into this new thread.

It may seem counter-intuitive, but uncleaned coins are actually the hardest to fake. First you'd have to make a fake coin, then artificially age it in such a way that realistically imitates the natural processes which occur when a coin is buried in the ground for 2000 years. Particularly difficult to reproduce would be the "fossilization", where copper from the coin leaches out into the surrounding encrusted soil and the thickness and depth of the patina.

To someone with even limited experience in cleaning ancient coins, a "fake uncleaned coin" would stand out at once as there being something wrong with it. If fake dirt had somehow been glued around a fake coin, the coin would most likely be too easy to clean, since the dirt and coin had not had thousands of years to bond together.

In short, fakemakers generally don't waste their time making fake uncleaned coins. Their fakes are almost always presented as having already been cleaned.

Coins are still being dug up in the ancient lands by the bucketful. They're like fossil fuels - there is theoretically only a finite amount of them in the ground, but in practise we're not going to run out all of a sudden anytime soon. However, you should be aware that many of these coins are being dug up in countries where the private digging-up of ancient relics is illegal. The Internet has allowed looters and coin smugglers a whole new avenue of disposing of their ill-gotten gains.

The problem when buying uncleaned coins is not outright fakes, but buying genuine ancient coins that are "slugs" - coins which were worn flat way back in ancient times and/or have devolved into corroded messes over the intervening centuries, meaning that even the most skilful and patient conservator has no chance at all at ending up with a recognisable, identifiable coin.

While it is often impossible to tell a coin's condition while it is still encased in a layer of concreted semi-fossilized mud, an experienced coin fossicker can often tell the difference between a coin that's likely to produce a gem and a coin that's likely to produce a slug. Suffice to say that in between digging the coin out of the ground and you receiving it, many such experienced eyes have examined it, and most of the "likely-gems" will have been pulled out. Promises of "unsearched" uncleaned ancient coins are as meaningless and misleading as promises of "unsearched" rolls of modern coins, and anyone who promises, hints or suggests that there "may be gold in tham thar coins" is outright lying. Many of those who sell uncleaned coins on ebay are selling the dross - coins which everyone else assumes are slugs. While it is possible that an atypical coin can appear unpromising while hiding a real gem, it isn't common.

Buying mostly slugs, combined with inexperience and impatience, means that many first-time buyers of uncleaned ancient coins will walk away from the exercise with nothing but disappointment. If you want to minimize your disappointment, buy from a reputable source like FORVM or dirtyoldcoins and read all the uncleaned coin cleaning tips you can find before you begin.

You don't know if it is not kosher or halal! (not really)

BTW, Sap is right.

I read somewhere online that fakers can make artifical verdigris on fake ancients...

yes. there's some coins on that 30 uncleaned lot that I cleaned it to bare cooper. when you're young, overly enthusiastic and very foolish, nothing nor any dirt gonna stand on your way, clean clean clean! i'll post some pictures later on these coins - a testament to my idiocy!




i did tried cleaning this before, very hard. but these remaining dirt is really stubborn. having destroyed some coins on this lot by overcleaning it, I thought it's best now to leave it this way. now, 12 years older, I don't have the "energy" to do it all over again! haha

There was actually a spate of fake uncleaned Romans that hit the market about 10 years ago. If I remember correctly there were for or five types that were mixed in with real coins. A few dealers got stung with them but there were very badly made and a rudementary wash removed the fake "dirt" and showed them for what they were.

http://www.catbikes.ch/coinstuff/coins-fakes.htm

the above link shows some of them.

I think this was quite unusual - just the fakers testing the waters so to speak. I haven't heard of much similar since though.