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Are there any RD Roman Coins left?
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<p>[QUOTE="IdesOfMarch01, post: 3790362, member: 39084"]It's not clear to me what you mean by "RD" but in the context of other responses in this thread, it seems that you mean something like the following: </p><p><br /></p><p>Are there any ancient Roman coins that were struck by the mint, immediately removed from circulation, and survive with their originally struck characteristics intact?</p><p><br /></p><p>For silver and bronze coins, the answer is no. There are no realistically plausible circumstances under which a silver or bronze coin would survive 2000 years without having its surface affected by chemical reactions. Silver and copper react with various gases and solids present in air, water, and soil, as well as contact with other coins, so in the course of 2000 years these surfaces would at the very least show significant changes due to these chemical reactions. It might be possible that a freshly minted coin was isolated in such a way that the coin experienced no changes other than interaction with air, forming only a patina of some sort, but I doubt it's possible to determine this with any certainty.</p><p><br /></p><p>In the case of gold coins, the answer is "probably yes" since gold is essentially inert and will not react with most (but not all) gases, liquids, and solids with which it comes in contact, and most Roman gold coins were as close to 100% pure gold as possible given the refining processes during ancient times. Note that this doesn't take into account the slight impurities in gold coins that may have been transferred from the die to the coin when it was struck, such impurities being susceptible to the usual degrading chemical processes. But again, there's no way to determine with certainty that an FDC gold coin was never circulated and has been preserved for 2000 years in its originally struck condition.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="IdesOfMarch01, post: 3790362, member: 39084"]It's not clear to me what you mean by "RD" but in the context of other responses in this thread, it seems that you mean something like the following: Are there any ancient Roman coins that were struck by the mint, immediately removed from circulation, and survive with their originally struck characteristics intact? For silver and bronze coins, the answer is no. There are no realistically plausible circumstances under which a silver or bronze coin would survive 2000 years without having its surface affected by chemical reactions. Silver and copper react with various gases and solids present in air, water, and soil, as well as contact with other coins, so in the course of 2000 years these surfaces would at the very least show significant changes due to these chemical reactions. It might be possible that a freshly minted coin was isolated in such a way that the coin experienced no changes other than interaction with air, forming only a patina of some sort, but I doubt it's possible to determine this with any certainty. In the case of gold coins, the answer is "probably yes" since gold is essentially inert and will not react with most (but not all) gases, liquids, and solids with which it comes in contact, and most Roman gold coins were as close to 100% pure gold as possible given the refining processes during ancient times. Note that this doesn't take into account the slight impurities in gold coins that may have been transferred from the die to the coin when it was struck, such impurities being susceptible to the usual degrading chemical processes. But again, there's no way to determine with certainty that an FDC gold coin was never circulated and has been preserved for 2000 years in its originally struck condition.[/QUOTE]
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