Taikonaut

I have aged more than a few ancient silvers and the before and after can look very different. What you cant change is the shape, cracks and most obviouse strike details and wears.

Here is the information of the top coin which others said might be a cast of the bottom http://www.forumancientcoins.com/catalog/roman-and-greek-coins.asp?radd=1&vpar=18&zpg=86769 The description says it was once polished and could be the case as do many ancient silver coins, the first image suggest this might be the case. Though when the coin was sold it may no longer look polished as the photos suggest. The second image shows what appear to be the same coin with natural looking age and appear sharper. However there are many similarities including the shape, wear, fan cracks and other minute details to conclude that they are indeed the same coin. What we are seeing is a coin may have been aged naturally (since the coin came from a old collection it might be an old photo) or artificially professionally aged. When a coin has been "aged" it can appear sharper.

I like to ask why is ancient roman coins particularly silver ones many look clean? I mean surely they don't come out of the ground looking like that.

I discussd with the seller the reason why I return the fake coin. When I posted the coin a week later I sent a reminder to the seller it is on its way and he was completely puzzled and don't seem to remember anything about it. The guy must have had so many returns he lost track of all them all.

I know it is only a matter of time I get bitten and bought fake Roman coins on ebay. Normally you cant always tell from photos until you see it in hand. While researching online I came across a master faker from Bulgaria by the name of Slavey Petrov. The seller of the fake coin had a very similar surname but is based in Cheshire UK. It does make me think does Mr Petrov has a UK office to sell his creation?

Leave the coin by the window for a year or two. The extreme temperature changes tend to tone coins quicker.

Do you know what his ebay account name is?

I had an email reply from Peter yesterday. He just to say that he has already retired and no longer involve in the cabinet making business even though they still uses his name. Peter still runs a coin dealership from the same premises at St Leonard were he use to make his cabinets.

So were is the best place to buy ancient coins? Is Numisbid a safer option?

It is a copy of a gold aureus. I use to have an Augustus and Tiberius version of this bought 35yrs ago on a school trip at the English Heritage centre in Chester next to the Roman amphiteatre.

Afraid so. I work at the uni but live on the Wirral. The curator Pat, she left about 6yrs ago and went into acting. You probably see her in "Woman in Black" with Daniel Radcliffe

They opened a new museum on the ground floor 2 years ago. Mainly Roman coins about a few dozen overall.

Did you see the Attica coin? I'm still on the fence if it is real or a very good Victorian copy.

Its from the Jeff Michniak Collection. I thnk it could be the way it was photographed and different lighting.

I visited the Garstang museum in Liverpool recently and they had a collection of Roman coins. What I notice is all the denarius had similar dark blue even tone all over regardless of age. I'm guessing that they were probably "cleaned" when first aquired but overtime they all gained a tone at the same rate because they were all under one collection and housed in the same environment for the last 100yrs?

So why is it cleaned?

This coin of Titus with Cos V which should be AD 76. I think it is Titus as Caesar but struck under the reign of Vespasian http://www.museuarqueologia.pt/?a=3&x=2&i=247

Is this Vespasian or Titus?

I find toning more pervasive in Royal Mint proof coins from the last 20yrs. Either the capsule is the cause or the minting process is leaving contaminant.

Korehira Watanabe was a student of the late living national treasure smith Miyairi Akihira. He entered into a career into swordmaking following the 70s sword boom. In the annual sword contest in Japan he has won a couple of 3rd prizes over his career. It is worth noting smiths of the Miyairi school is known for producing quality traditionally made swords and the top smiths from that same school, Kawachi Kunihira and Miyiari Kei are both multiple 1st prize winners no less than 5-7 times each and no longer subject their work to judgement. Sorry for being off topic

Still very curious how my older proof coins that are decades old are free from discolour/toning yet new more recent proofs suffer from it. Could it be modern mints contain contaminants in the water/chemical that "washes the coin" during production? I collect Japanese swords (genuine hand forged ones) when they are in fresh polish it looks like the finish in proof coins. We need to treat it by adding and removing oil daily for the first three weeks to expell moisture of water that was use with the various grades of polishing stones. If we don't do that it will allow rust to develop over short period of time.

I store my proofs in capsule and case that it came with sometimes not in very well controlled temperature and they all survived well without discolour or toning. The only discolouration proof I had was a gold Chinese Panda dated 1999 that came with it sealed plastic wrapper which developed discolouration about 15yrs ago so I opened the wrapper and soaked the coin in warm water with washing up liquid, rinsed and dried in microfibre cloth and left the coin in my Nichols coin cabinet for the last 15 years and it is still as good as new. I think discolour not unlike rust if not checked early can grow and become toning and more robust.

Still not found a £2 Magna Carta in circulation. I guess the RM never had the chance to release it to the banks in my area before they were snapped up. The 4th portrait version is a bit of an anomaly because that might be the version originally intended for release so it ended up with the sets while it was struck in 2014 for early 2015 release, but when it came to actually releasing the coin for circulation towards the middle of 2015 that was made during that same year the 5th portrait came into use instead. This makes the 4th portrait £2 Magna Carta a trial piece.... I don't know how many BU £2 Magna Carta set and individual collector edition with the 4th portrait were made but I would bet it is much lower than the 1,495,000 5th portrait. Might worth looking out for?

Don't blame you for wanting to save money from buying a new one. Prices have risen substantially over the past 12 months

Even though I keep my cabinet away from direct sunlights in the last 25 years when I compare the shade from inside and outside the door I can see how much the wood has lightened over time. A collection of old pennies can be pretty heavy. Are you having a pair of brass handles fitted? I wonder how much they charge for that?