An Interesting Example of a Devious Ancient Bronze Coin Manipulation

I thought it would be useful and interesting to show these pictures of coin manipulation (from another ancient coin forum).

Some may already have seen these.

The pictures clearly show the devious and dishonest work of those intent on deceiving unsuspecting collectors.

The 'before' pictures show a nicely patinated and pleasant bronze coin of Hadrian.

The 'after' show the same coin, after being dipped in acetone: the coin shows severely corroded edges which had obviously been improved by filling the edges and parts of the surfaces, possibly with epoxy or other similar material soluble in acetone.


Coin before being dipped in acetone:





Coin after acetone dip:



Collectors cannot be too careful!

I have a similar example in my collection.

 

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Wow, and yikes! Thanks for the information.

 

Very useful info! Thanks for sharing.

 

Weird !

Thanks for showing us

Q

 

Interesting. How was the deception spotted? I assume the coin wasn't dipped in acetone to improve it. There must have been something about the appearance of the filled/painted coin that tipped-off the owner to dip it in the first place. Do we know what those signs were?

 

Sadly, I've had a few ex-girlfriends with that same problem ...

=> wipe-off the night-time makeup and you'll find their severely corroded edges!



Ummm, but I can only imagine what they're sayin' about me?!

... just jokes ...

Eduard => thanks for the info (interesting, yet scary)

 

I imagine the parts of the coin and devices that were epoxied into existence would look more dubious in hand or under microscopic inspection.

 

@stevex6

I understand very well why they are ex-girlfriends since you dip them into acetone

Q

 

*whatev* ... then it puts the lotion in the basket

lambsilencex6

 

The thing that amazes me is the level of effort that must have gone into reproducing the dots around the obverse's border, all of which were dissolved by the acetone.

My dealer detected a couple of similarly altered coins at the auction in which I purchased my Hadrian sestertius, which was authentic. I don't know exactly how he figured that out.

 

My thought too.

 

There does seem to be color variation in the "patina" of those added areas, so that may have been the evidence to at least investigate. As you say, under magnification, those color-varying areas likely had different surface characteristics than the rest of the coin.

 

Unbelievable!! From the before photo, I can't see anything that would have made me suspicious.

 

Can you be certain that the patina was not natural and your acetone dip simply made the process of degradation speed up? I have seen countless bronzes like this with very similar crumbly green patina about the edge. Such patinas are often very soft and chip away very easily.

 

yeah, wow, that's ...unsettling. was the weight of the coin off or anything?

 

I don't buy it. Are you trying to tell me someone started with the second coin and reconstructed so many of the letters of the legend using epoxy? Highly unlikely. The coin looks like someone accidentally ran it through a rock tumbler and a bunch of the very real patina chipped off. Whatever happened, it was probably more than an acetone dip.

 

That makes more sense than someone painstakingly building up the deficient edges. The coin may have had a thick "crust" of wax holding together the surface, with some BD or corrosion underneath, and when the acetone dissolved the wax...

 

This seems much more likely to me. From the 1980's and earlier (even back into the 19th Century with British coinage) many coins were coated either with wax, shellack or other substances to protect the surfaces and to enhance the appearance of the patina. Just looking at a photo one cant really tell, but I would assume it was simply coated and the acetone wash took off the natural patina. I have seen many of these coins in holders with no coating and the patina chips off extremely easily, many times with patina dust in the flip. Coating it is the only way to preserve the coin. But if you remove it....you end up with a coin like the second photo.

 

To clarify what I wrote, I meant that the coin's fabric was probably sound long ago when the wax or shellac was applied, but over time corrosion occurred underneath the surface. This is why I'm skittish about applying any type of sealant to bronze.

 

Looking at the "before" picture closer I tend to agree with Ken. I think there was just active corrosion going on underneath the coating both on the edge and in scattered places across the coin. The coating held it all in place until the acetone removed it which led to the coin we see now. I have never seen a coin in-hand with this problem but I have heard of the phenomenon from various dealers a few times.

That said, some very tricky alterations do exist out there. Andrew McCabe illustrates a bronze coin in his collection that disintegrated from an attempt to treat BD as well as the sealed and repaired coin.