Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 2680491, member: 19463&quot;]I am fine with Nemo&#039;s definition of &#039;Find Patina&#039; even if 90% of it is caked on dirt rather than some chemical compound.&nbsp; I tend to suspect that many of our really well toned silver coins today were cleaned in the past - perhaps even a century ago - and have darkened to look natural in the sense of Morgan dollars that have been toning for that same time.&nbsp; My recent purchase of Alexandrian tetradrachms included coins provenanced to the Dattari collection of over a century ago and coins with sales listed more in the 50 year range.&nbsp; They were not the same color/tone.&nbsp; Were they dark when Dattari owned them or did he bathe them all in 1900 era dip?&nbsp; I have no idea.&nbsp; My preference on coins like the OP is to leave them as they are if they are attractive and this one is.&nbsp; There are plenty of ugly coins we can play doctor with before we need to mess with fixing what is not broken.</p><p><br /></p><p>About 15 years ago at a Baltimore show, I got to see a large plastic bag filled with Athenian tetradrachms all having &#039;Find Patina&#039;.&nbsp; I also saw another bag of coins of the same type with what I would call bright silver surfaces.&nbsp; Most buyers preferred the silver colored silver coins. I suspect both groups had recently looked the same.&nbsp; I also suspect that most of the &#039;Find&#039; ones have been cleaned in some way since I saw them.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Alegandron&#039;s coin is the kind that gets me in trouble.&nbsp; Were it my coin, I would be gnawed at by the question of being fourree.&nbsp; My guess is no.&nbsp; If it were&nbsp; a fine silver issue, I&#039;d probably plop it in lemon juice on the theory that I would learn something but these Victoriati could stand a little more finesse and that is not my strong suite.&nbsp; I don&#039;t want to advise people on what to do with their coins under such circumstances but I might point out that it is easier to overclean a coin that it is to neglect it.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in