Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GregH, post: 3149935, member: 75936&quot;]Yes, so for background - Athena is a vcoins dealer who has many coins with the same kind of &quot;earthen&quot; patina, even London Mint coins:[ATTACH=full]806791[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>He has been called on this many times.</p><p><br /></p><p>One example that comes to mind is the coin of Nepotian he once offered for sale:</p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/nepotian-jpg.486109/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>The same coin previously sold in a Roma auction, prior to having the reddish patina applied (and not declared):</p><p><a href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=1596405" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=1596405" rel="nofollow">https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=1596405</a></p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.acsearch.info/media/images/archive/93/1693/1596405.m.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>After complaints to vcoins, Athena started declaring &quot;applied earthen patina&quot; on some of his offerings, but now it seems he is saying the patina is natural, or not declaring it at all.</p><p><br /></p><p>An example from my own collection, of a coin having a genuine sand patina, is this Vabalathus/Aurelian:</p><p><img src="https://scontent.fmel5-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/1796591_877633818936211_6790195427461976796_n.jpg?_nc_cat=0&amp;oh=48431bcb69f610dc292a627820542b4a&amp;oe=5C03CA23" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>His coins are certainly genuine - but they seem to have an earthen patina applied to improve the appearance and increase the asking price. Application of artificial patinas should be declared - otherwise the customer may be surprised or disappointed to learn that the patina isn&#039;t natural.</p><p><br /></p><p>More info from a previous time this was uncovered: <a href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=93245.0" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=93245.0" rel="nofollow">http://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=93245.0</a></p><p><br /></p><p>A nice quote from that thread: &quot;Nice mark-up - $3,000 uplift for a bit of sand and glue applied as &quot;patina&quot;. People (err maybe that should be suckers) just love that &quot;desert patina&quot; and will pay big bucks for it!&quot;[/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