Coinery

I'd personally leave that technique well alone to be honest!

Yes, I'd say a likely clean, and niggling obverse digs! Are you buying it, or looking?

I'd leave the Rose farthing as-is to be honest. The problem with heavily encrusted coins like these, is the encrustations have normally exchanged particles, atoms, somethingons, call them what you will, with the surface silver of the coin, so removing these surfaces normally leaves you with a pin-holey, wire-wormed, nasty piece of silver with slushy detail. As an experiment once, I dissolved a corroded C2 farthing, just to see how far I'd have to go to find copper. It turned out the copper had long since turned into a brittle reddish material. I've no idea what it was, but it's a lesson to demonstrate you may not find the original coin beneath the mess. I'd say for the coins you've posted that it's best to stick with a pick and a soak...there's not an unblemished flan lurking beneath.

Sorry, there ARE pictures!

Mark, have you tried this before? One thing you won't have left is toning! I used to use this method for bulk cleaning necklaces and jewellery. It comes up like new, not necessarily what you'd want from a hammered coin?But you are absolutely right in questioning whether the method is controlled, and what defines a clean. Some hammered are so knackered that a wire brush would enhance their value, if only to determine the monarch, others would be devalued by the slightest buff. We could really do with pictures?

You would definitely do no harm with a light wash! If more is needed, you'd do no harm with a couple of weeks' soak in olive oil, and a careful pick/wipe with cocktailstick/cottonbud. As a general degreaser, junk remover, you could do worse than acetone and cotton bud (pure acetone, not the nail-varnish remover that contains conditioners which leave 'hues' and a 'pretty' smell on the coin). What kind of 'clean' are we talking? Can you show us some pictures? Would make a massive difference to the approach.

I've not studied the full thread, but this isn't surely a CGS bust confusion, surely? Surely not?

Nicest reverse design on a coin to-date! Perfect simplicity!

Fabulous quality, as much as I hate you!

It doesn't look extraordinary, RD! Now enter someone who's got an exact die-match and a confirmed 4/3 4/2! :roll eyes:

Love the 95p bit!

Efcharisto, Paulus!

Just digging around for a good customer in HK!

Is that correct for coins under £200, it used to be much more, didn't it? I can't find international postage charges either, I'm guessing they do post abroad, even now the post office level of insurance cover has been further reduced at the time the prices went up a couple of weeks ago? Anyone know?

Cheers, Dave. I've just called (think I woke her up) 'heeeeelllo!' Not 'good morning, CGS, how can I help?' Anyway, she said '£15 for up to 5 coins to Hong Kong!' I said 'what, are you sure? What about insurance? I can't get better than £250 cover to Hong Kong, and can only get £500 if I pay £96!' She sounded tired and disinterested! Deary me!

https://www.facebook.com/479393182083605/videos/879636938725892/

I'm always going to struggle with coins that are nearly a thousand years old and look like this! 231535561239 I think I've got Ashmore and Grunal to thank for all this. It all looks to type, but I just couldn't go there! Things seem so much easier once you move into the short-cross coinage of Henry II

I can narrow the short-cross down to S1344 - S1346 with Spink (of course)! Would need further literature to narrow it further.

Correct att. S2655 fourth bust. Edit: I've just noticed S2656 in the title! It's S2655, so nearly correct!

I'd say treble+ for EF...not that such a thing exists in my eyes! There is 'as-struck' in hammered, as far as I'm concerned...and then whether you like it clipped, weak, cracked, clogged, ploughed, dinted, cleaned, black with thick encrustations (some living, possibly)...that's my take on things! I'm not listening to an EF price on anything, or VF for that matter, it's pretty meaningless! Now, what Spink does for me, is offer me a scenario where I can draw comparisons! I know what a £300 (actual) Elizabeth coin looks like (more or less), which leaves me able to interpret (more or less) what I might expect from an equivalent-priced coin from, say, Charles I or John! It's not about grade, but I can see how Spink's hands are tied on this point! If I see an Ed. Con. coin for £50 in Spink, and already know where a £50 penny of Elizabeth sits in the grand scheme of things, I can, specifics aside, quickly determine the likelihood of me finding another, or a better, example quite quickly! And also how quickly someone might rip my hand off if I have one! That's Spink and hammered grading for me!

My thought too!

I was going to mention that!

It's bang on for weight, and he has almost 100% positive feedback too, how can you tell? I'd love a photo of the scales he used! Grandma's bathroom scales, no doubt!

And often easily cross-reference by the moneyer on the page at the end of the section in Spink for an occasional simple ID! :-)Obviously not home!

Proof for me Deep cameo first strike FDCMS72