OK, here is one which has me baffled. I purchased it in a lot of uncleaned 'Roman Provincials" from AACCOINS on of the best and most trusted ancient dealers on ebay there is. The coin had been in an olive oil bath for about a two months and when I took it out of the oil (which had that nasty green color which means it's working ) and it had a light green patina all over with one side being obviously smooth, the other had a light black crust. It's a pretty heavy piece at 10.00 grams and 25mm. The obverse side (?) had the light crust I was able to partially remove most of it with a wooden chopstick and brass brush. As the crust gave way I began to notice a very bright silver/white colored metal underneath but no features, like letters, or a profile. I wonder if this is just a tetradrachm which was wornout or an ancient planchet? Thanks for looking Ben P.S. There is no peeling of the white metal or brass showing underneath or around the edges.
I can't help you much on your ubrwewarubf question Bone, but I thought this was a great thread in which to post some great advice for people who want to clean their coins - Collect ancients my friends!
I had the same thing, mine was encrusted in hard black crust (like ancient tar) that simply would not come off until I zapped it after about a year of soaking, once I zapped it, the black tar sludged off and it revealed a smoth (heavy) thick metal disc just like that one with not even a hint of detail but mine seems to be all brass / copper. It was in a lot of uncleaned from forum.
My "slug" theory won't hold water because I'm pretty sure they didn't have vending machines in ancient Rome........did they?
