You guys here always tempt me with all sorts of odd coins. My latest was to find an ant nose coin. Don't know if it is authentic or not, however when I got it, I brushed it a bit with a brass brush and it looked so much better I soaked it overnight in water and brushed it a second time...what do you think? It's sitting with some VerdiCare on it to take care of any BD
Not an expert here. Just enjoy some Chinese History since I have been all over China many times during my career... Yours look similar to my Hartill 1.4, @TypeCoin971793 and/or @Ken Dorney might be able to clarify. My ant-noses for comparison: China Shang Dyn 1766-1154 BC Ant Nose Ge Liu Zhu 2.6g 19.5mm x 11mm very scarce H 1.10 China Shang Dyn 1766-1154 BC Ant Nose Ge Liu Zhu 17.4mm x 10mm very scarce H 1.10 China Shang 1766-1154 BCE or Zhou Dynasty Ghost Face Ant Nose 1.65g Hartill 1.4
The coin is authentic, and is a H-1.4 as @Alegandron said above. I usually do not like using brass brushes to clean Chinese coins. You are lucky it did not shine up the metal at all. Steel brushes are the toughest I use.
If I am not mistaken, steel is MUCH harder than brass. I have seen silver brushes mentioned, but have never seen any.
The steel brushes can be found at ACE hardware or a do it yourself store. The bristles give under pressure, and fall out.
I get far better results with a steel brush than brass brush. The brass brush really screws up the color of the metal. Not exactly sure why.
Brass brushes are normally softer than the bronze of the coin, so wear can come about depositing debris from the brush on the coin. This debris comes off easily, sometimes with just a water rinse. Steel can scratch the coin. That being said, I have also used steel dental picks. Whatever you use you must be gentle.
I think it is more of the metal combination. the combination of the struck coin and a metal that is pliable with it, will always get different results than using something that isn't.
No, I don't intend to, but I will give it a VerdiCare treatment for those things in some of the divots.
Brass from the brush is deposited on the rough surface you are cleaning. I'd guess it happens with a brass brush and not with a steel brush because the brass is softer than what it is scraping and the steel brush isn't. I've used a brass brush on a river rocks to make them look like they are made of metal. I suspect you could impart a very superficial silver layer to those coins as well by using a silver brush. Maybe that is how some of the "resilvered" coins get that way.
Current research is narrowing the dates and areas of issue. The most recent (English) publication is The First Round Coins of China, 400 - 118 BC, by Gratzer & Fishman. They address these briefly in the introduction and assign them specifically to the State of Chu, as early as the 6th Century and ending with the same state in 223 BC. As for the OP coin specifically, I dont think it has BD (I have never seen it on a Chinese coin ever). However, Chinese coins do get certain kinds of corrosion in which the surfaces (and edges) can turn powdery and are greatly weakened. This is not BD as it is never active, but if you brush it in any way it will remove all the oxides and knock off a lot of material from the coin. Doing so will ultimately destroy the coin or greatly reduce its value. I have seen Greek and Roman coins with the same patina and corrosion. In those case they are generally higher value and are treated to stabilize the problem.
Originally, I received it as Shang Dynasty. Recent info has been more as 400-220 BCE State of Chu. Then Qin Shi Huang stopped all that!
