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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 2358984, member: 19463&quot;]TIF&#039;s link is beyond interesting and alarming.&nbsp; To me the best part is the straight forward listing of adding fake sand patinas as an acceptable process.&nbsp; The examples shown were quoted as being more from vCoins than eBay. I stopped dealing with one vCoins dealer and held the vCoins attitude against every dealer there for a while.&nbsp; Now I still do not deal with that dealer or anyone who has only pigs wearing makeup but consider other dealers there good or bad on their own merits.&nbsp; It was nice when I felt comfortable saying that any vCoins dealers were fine because of the management policing of bad apples in their barrel.&nbsp; No more. </p><p><br /></p><p>I bought a coin from the dealer in question and decided it had to go back for fake sand.&nbsp; He willingly refunded my money but expressed the opinion that his listing never stated the patina to be original.&nbsp; I take this and the opinion on the site TIF linked to mean that there is what I consider a subculture that considers this acceptable.&nbsp; I will say that some of the coins look better after repatination and I am sure I have missed some in my collection but I am trying to avoid them.&nbsp; I fully agree with TIF on this one. I&#039;m not willing to destroy some of my coins that are sandy but which I believe are more likely natural just to find out.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>One point perhaps not covered is the fact that a sand surface, either natural or added, can be smoothed with differing degrees of care.&nbsp; The same artistry in use of tools that could &#039;tool&#039; a coin certainly could reveal the letters and detail on a coin with thick, natural sand.&nbsp; The same coin scrubbed randomly with a wire brush would not be as attractive and certainly not more desirable just because the conservation looked &#039;naturally blotchy&#039;.&nbsp; I have no problem with coins cleaned to leave genuine dirt in the recesses but I do not approve of adding dirt whether you remove it as a second step or not.&nbsp; I once expressed the opinion that I would love (!) to be able to follow the &#039;life&#039; of each of my coins from the time it was lost or buried to the time I got it just to see what it experienced in that journey.&nbsp; I suspect some of the stories would be more interesting to me than anything I have ever seen in movies or TV.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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