Last December I received two uncleaned "as found" tetradrachms that were clearly fourré coins. Both were very encrusted, so much to the point that virtually all details were obscured by the surface deposits. I decided to clean one coin, struck on a squarish flan. It seemed solid, with no test cuts. After spending time in the distilled water bath, and using a wood toothpick (actually quite a few), much of the earthy mineralization was removed, but not to the point of reaching bare metal. Here is the result, so far. Much of the original surface is still present, but the presence of Athena's portrait can been seen on the obverse and, to a lesser extent, the owl on the reverse. This coin in that it also exhibits the green layer that existed between the core and the silver plating. Note that there are still small traces of the plating on the reverse. This coin, and the following example came by way of Israel, so I imagine that they both came from a find in the region. This coin weighs 12.6 grams and is approximately 23 mm wide. The second coin, below is basically in the condition it was in at discovery, with the exception of one area displaying bare copper. As you can see it has had a rougher life, with one, possibly two test cuts. The thick, earthy deposits have totally covered all detail on the obverse, but on the reverse there is the hint of the owl's figure. This coin weighs 12.2 grams and is about 22.5 mm wide.
Thanks for your post, and photos. I have thought about what it looks like if the silver plating is gone for the fourre.
