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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;YOC, post: 2428338, member: 58941&quot;]I do not think this coin will respond well to cleaning.</p><p>The key here is the dirt.&nbsp; It is yellow/orange in colour and gives big clues as to what the surface of the coin is like.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]504210[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I have tries to mark using paint the areas of interest and my observations.</p><p>The areas circled using white are very nice and the detail quite sharp.&nbsp; Look closely though and the porosity of the coins surface can be seen. The area in front of the head of zeus shows pitting. The surface of the coin is in fact quite unstable.</p><p>on the reverse , dirt sits in the exergue. because the rest of the exergue is good and the surface not pitted , I would expect this small clump of dirt to lift with a scalpel under magnification (this is my gut feeling, but you never really know whats under the dirt until you lift it).&nbsp; The same goes for the letter O and the area of the bust behind the head/close to the ties of the diadem.&nbsp;&nbsp; I have marked the areas in red as the only ones I would attempt to remove dirt from.&nbsp; That is all I would do, but no more.</p><p>The rest of the dirt sits within holes in the coins surface.&nbsp; Remove that and you are left with more obvious holes.&nbsp; A clear example of this is the area circled yellow, note the hole with the dirt still present on the lower half and the dirt removed from the top half revealing the blemish.&nbsp; The area in green is a line of corrosion which dirt is sat in...remove this and you will be left with a long pit similar to that in the lower half of the blue area on the obverse.</p><p>The areas marked in blue are very rough and this is not dirt, but the pitting and scars in the coins surface.&nbsp; </p><p>Its a nice coin....a shame the emperors face isnt clearer, but it has lots going for it.&nbsp; It reminds me of a coin I own which has similar issues.&nbsp; It looked better before I cleaned it, but I couldnt have known before ...so lesson learnt there.</p><p>Here is the coins reverse which reminds me of yours....</p><p>[ATTACH=full]504211[/ATTACH] </p><p>sharp detail one half and pitting on the other.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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