Quote:
Originally Posted by mmarotta  You know you are stuck with the problem. US coins are so well known, and understood so deeply, by US collectors that anything you do to the coin will be identified. Period.
So, do as little as possible. If you have an old wooden cabinet or dresser, you can leave the coins there to naturally retone.
That's about as good as it gets. With older coins, ancients, especially, BU luster, flow lines, and all of that are not expected, so a little artificial toning to remediate a harsh cleaning is not the end of the world for that coin.
Your problem, however, must remain as it is. |
Not quite true. Flow lines are a must and, in fact, the most effective way of separating genuine from fake coins. BU luster is sometimes present, but is more often than not eroded by the long time in the ground. Most of the artificial toning done on ancients is created after removal of extreme encrustation of some sort. Trust me, it is indistinguishable from stone and a miracle that it can be removed at all! Of course, that's not to say there aren't workshops out there turning beautiful gray denarii into blast white ones.
To the OP, the only way to fix these coins is to wear them down until the hairlines disappear. Of course, you will then have a lower grade coin.
