ok, heres a senario, you have $40 to spend on coins, you have nothing for ancients, so you decided to get some which one of the COIN lots would you get: http://www.ebay.com/sch/Roman-Imper...=30&_ssn=maggierulesmaggie2012&rt=nc&LH_BIN=1 please put the link of the product that you would prefer in your reply. if you would also buy some cleaning tools, also put the links in your reply. remember, total price (including shipping) must not exed $40.
Perhaps the lots of 15. The others seem like a scam, where the lot is sold by each coin for the price not all the shown coins. As for the electrolysis kit a simple D cell battery, 2 small wires and a used peanut butter jar is all required.
can you give a step by step way on how to do it? or post a link to get to somwhere that shows me how? Thank you for saving me from a horrible and terrible scam! is this the one? http://www.ebay.com/itm/LOT-OF-15-A...826?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2321bf2ad2
thank you riply!' luckely i found a site: http://www.romancoins.net/cleaning.htm i can put it together while waiting for my coins
Um... I'm reading 'Electrolysis'... Please try to not use these machines... they strip the patina, so most ancient coin collectors will put a lower value on coins cleaned this way... Also, they don't look as good after this type of cleaning... Finally, wait for some others before cleaning... Bing, along with others, may be able to help in the morning (when they get up!)
None of the lots strike me as worth anything. My hobby is collecting coins. These devices are for mad scientists whose hobby is torturing coins before destroying them. It is unlikely that any of these techniques will yield coins I will want. Think before you nuke. Spend the $40 on one to four coins that have promise of showing detail and do everything you can to avoid making them uglier than they were when you got them. Appropriate substances for coin cleaning are more like distilled water and less like nuclear weapons of mass destruction.
Coingeek, if you want coins, buy coins. $40 will get you a couple of nice common ancients that you'll be proud to own. If you want science experiments, get a chemistry set - those things are fun, and far more entertaining than stripping a few thousand years of crud off a cull.
cg12 have you cleaned coins before? it is fun! i don't use anything that i didn't have in my house anyway (toothpicks, needles, toothbrush), along with some distilled water and dish detergent....that should be all you need. if you haven't cleaned before, just buy lot and practice....any on that page you posted would be fine. if you already collect ancients, you're not going to get anything new, they're all common coins. what i do now sometimes is buy coins that are nice and can be improved by cleaning them up....only do this is you've practiced a bit first!
theres that word again! whats the patina? edit: im not looking for "nice" roman coins, i dont care about the looks, as long as i can tell its roman, and i can clean it, value isn't a issue for me either.
Patina is a natural surface coating that develops on coins buried in the earth for a thousand years which is valued by collectors and can not be removed from coins without damaging the underlying surface. It is rather like toning gone wild. Beginners have been known to scrub it off and turn a $200 coin into a $20 (or $2) coin in a couple minutes. More: http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/grade3.html
wow, once again coin collectors amaze me. no offensence to anyone, it just seems funny that someone would pay premeum for tonning (aka, tarnishing) and the stay away from the cleaned ones! edit: oh! it just clicked! the patina is used to see if the coin was to harshly cleaned! right?
i think i might just buy these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/LOT-OF-15-A...826?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2321bf2ad2 i'll get them at 93 cents each. so, now to find out how to properly clean those coins 0.o
There is a HUGE difference coin geek between toning on modern coins, and patina on ancient ones. Toning on modern coins is temporary tarnishing. Most of the time it continues to progress. Nevertheless, its a thin little film on the coin, and a fingerprint will ruin it. Patina on ancient coins is a thick layer of protective coating built up over centuries. Its very durable and stable. I don't go crazy over it, but have bought some coins with pretty patina. Here is one:
Here is another good place to shop. http://www.vcoins.com/ you can get a few nice coins for $40, if you're careful about shopping.
ok, thanks, so if i decided to scrub uncleaned roman coins, the patina wouldn not go away? or should i try and find sommthing simaler?
You can destroy patina, but you have to really work at it, (or zap it). I know buying "uncleaned coins" sounds great, and many of us have been sucked in by that siren call, but we are seriously trying to just help you. Most "uncleaned coins" nowadays are simply junk coins that are not worth bothering to clean. I and MANY of us here REALLY would hope you just start buying cleaned coins. You will get better value in the long run.
Not sure what your after but after a quick scroll I probably gonna add one of these to my collection come the 1st and my new monthly budget. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...akeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en On a side note, I agree with the guys for real collecting purposes don't buy the uncleaned coins as you will get 99% junk usualy. On the other hand I myself like the challenge of "cleaning" them but you get much nicer, collectable, valueable coins buy just buying them already cleaned