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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;YOC, post: 2417703, member: 58941&quot;]I regularly troll ebay and I mean almost every other day for a few hours seeking out nice uncleaned lots/single coins to clean.&nbsp; In my experience, if you are buying a lot of say 10 or more dirt encrusted coins or even semi clean coins you are highly unlikely to come across any fakes.&nbsp; Those that are fake are generally single large 1st and 2nd century bronze sestertius etc or shiny perfect examples of 4th century coins, which to be fair to the sellers are generally advertised as copies.</p><p>I have NEVER found a fake coin in an uncleaned lot..... and that is pretty good going as I have bought a lot of uncleaned coins.</p><p>Look for coins which show good detail under the dirt.&nbsp; Soak in demineralised water for however long you can bear..... or soak in a sodium sesquicarbonate solution and lightly brush with a toothbrush to remove dirt and change the water every week or sooner if its really dirty.&nbsp; patience is the key for soil found coins, but there are quicker methods for high quality group coins which you will struggle to get professional cleaners to part with. (in fact they wont part with them...its their livelihood).&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p>When I first started cleaning, I looked for coins that had encrustations, but ones which you could also see a proportion of the surface to assess how sound the metal was.&nbsp; I&#039;d then use a binocular microscope and a blunt scalpel to pick away...great great fun, but time consuming.</p><p>if in doubt or you see a lot you like, PM me with pictures and I&#039;ll give you my honest opinion.</p><p>[ATTACH]500448[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]500449[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]500450[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]500451[/ATTACH] </p><p>the above coin just required some &#039;tarting up&#039; to remove light hoard deposits and the almost full silvering was revealed.&nbsp; This one remains in my collection of high grade Galerius.&nbsp; Some may prefer the light green crust...I dont, so i cleaned the coin sympathetically to leave it in mint state, ie. the way it was when the die was lifted.</p><p>others can be more heavily encrusted and what is underneath may never have been too good in the first place... like this one.</p><p>BOTH of these from ebay for a reasonable price.</p><p>[ATTACH]500452[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]500453[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]500454[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]500455[/ATTACH] </p><p>if this is helping you as to what coins to look out for, I&#039;ll post another reply with some more before and after....?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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