Is it possible for 1,800 year old coins to remain in essentially the same condition that they were in the day they were minted? Yes it is.I have no idea how or why these went pretty much unused for two millenium but here are some examples from the Mikjo estate.. ..they are NOT reproductions,in case anyone was thinking of asking. Marcus Aurelius 161-180 AD Septimus Severus 192-211 AD Caracalla 211 AD Elagabalus 218-222 AD Severus Alexander 222-235 AD The technical jargon for this is "about as struck"
Yes indeed. If the conditions were right, and coins were placed in a well sealed container with very little contamination and ideal temperature and moisture conditions they can survive to the present day. Of course most often this means that ideal or near ideal coins are located in temperate zones with little precipitation and were stored in well sealed and well preserved containers such as jug. I have a Roman bronze, from Constantine I somewhere that would fit this scenario. It is a nice dark, but very uncirculated coin.
Krasnaya, I think you're correct and that these coins were stored in a good environment,probably in large hoards that kept them fresh,and uncirculated. I have a pretty nice Constantine that I got from a place called Global that advertised them as some of the best ever found in quantity but I certainly wouldn't call it uncirculated.Maybe AAU...almost almost uncirculated.
Yup, by groups of strange, quixotic people who no one understood for the next millenium or two - known as coin collectors
I have seen Greek mummys of Greeks that lived in Egypt and copied that practice. I wonder how many of them may have had coins entombed with them and perhaps there is a burial site out there right now in Egypt that has not been found yet.
I see fossils out in public all the time, some are not in very good states of preservation though, they should have taken better care of themselves
I don't believe that it is possible for a silver or bronze coin to remain perfectly preserved for 1,800 years. It would certainly be possible to do so now, but it would require an anerobic and chemical-free environment. One could certainly store a silver coin in a sealed container filled with argon or some inert gas. I just don't believe that an ancient coin could have been stored for very long without some chemical alteration. Native silver does not occur in nature. Clearly, it is more likely that the subject coins have been dipped or otherwise treated to remove oxidation products.
Perhaps I should have been a bit more specific.When I mention AU-UNC condition,I really mean the amount of surface wear but I agree that the coins must have been cleaned at some point and that no coin could have survived that long without oxidation. Good point quickdog!
Gold is inert, true enough. But, how pure is the gold in ancient coins? I suspect that the metal ratios in ancient coins vary from country to country, and from historic period to period. How pure were the ancient peoples able to refine their gold? They didn't have Mid-States Recycling & Refining to electrolytically refine their dore bars. Native gold (lode gold) in quartz veins and mineralized rock in the Sierra Nevada and western United States generally ranges from 80 to 90 percent gold (Au). Alluvial gold (placer gold) generally ranges from about 90 to 95 percent gold. Other metals present in native gold include silver, copper, lead, zinc, and traces of other metals. Since everything but the gold is relatively soluable in aqueous solutions, native gold becomes more pure the longer it is washed around in streams or the ocean. So, what did the ancient metallurgists do? I would be a little bit surprised if their coins were much more than 95 percent gold. I suppose that silver and copper would be the dominant minor metals. Given that, even ancient gold coins should tarnish with time. Just asking.
You are quite correct - the gold alloy used for coins can and will tone at times. But for a comparison take a look at almost any US gold coin regardless of age. The majority of them are of 90% purity and seldom do you see toning. Once in a while yes, but usually only when there was a poor alloy mix. Older, 700 to 1000 years, gold coins from Europe and the middle east were normally of a surprisingly high purity - usually 98% and above. I don't study the ancients, but from what I have been told they were often of a high purity as well. And when gold approaches that level of purity rarely is any tarnish or toning seen.
Mike,those are very nice gold coins you've got there.The first piece is a Byzantine one.I like the Ancient British one,as that is definitely a British Commonwealth coin that is very historic. Aidan.
wonderful lot you have there...I have quite a few is similar condition... I have always been amazed at how well this Gordian III survived the ages:
correct...you can tell by the crown...its a bit large...its size is 1-1/2 that of a denaius ...but worth twice more...thats what you call roman monetary reform great coins brian
