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Message:: [QUOTE="gsimonel, post: 2814373, member: 82549"]In our lifetimes, the Golden Age of uncleaned ancient coins was shortly after the fall of the Iron Curtain, when the West became flooded with literally millions of coins from Eastern Europe. I, too, used to buy them in lots of 100-1,000, and I also found many outstanding beauties in these lots. There were probably 10 to 15 good years. Eventually, though, the people digging them up realized the true value of what they were selling to exporters for pennies, and both they and the exporters got a lot better at figuring out which coins were worth cleaning themselves and which coins weren't worth bothering with. Sadly (for us), those days aren't likely to return. Right now, cleaned low-to-medium grade LRBs are selling for a couple bucks a pop on eBay, or about the same price as uncleaned coins, so it's hard to make a financial case for buying uncleaned coins. Do it for the "armchair-archaeologist" experience and the joy of discovery. And be prepared to ruin a few as you hone your skills. I've certainly ruined some in my time; it's part of the learning process. Today, at least, you are unlikely to destroy a really nice or valuable coin, since they've already been pulled out.[/QUOTE]