Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;IdesOfMarch01, post: 2149806, member: 39084&quot;]I tend to think about this issue in terms of numbers / probability: specifically, what&#039;s the probability that a high-grade ancient coin of gold, silver, or bronze/copper would survive for two thousand years?</p><p><br /></p><p>The first factor to consider is: how many coins of each metal were struck? Well, just think of the amount of coinage needed to support armies and public works projects each emperor would have commissioned.&nbsp; Surely, during the first 400 years AD of the Roman empire, it&#039;s likely that billions of AE coins were minted, hundreds of millions of silver coins were minted, and tens of millions of gold coins were minted.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now many of these would have been recycled into new coins by being melted into blanks and re-struck, but since there were no banks nor generally available methods for safekeeping wealth, a fair percentage of each type would end up being hidden or buried.&nbsp; Subsequently, some of these hoards would have been lost, forgotten, or the owner would have died without using all of the coins or revealing their hiding places to others.</p><p><br /></p><p>So of these hoards or hidden caches, the next factor becomes: what&#039;s the relative survivability of the various metals?&nbsp; Although soft, gold is highly inert and the relative purity of gold coins pretty much guarantees that surviving coins of this metal will be very nearly the condition in which they were buried / hoarded.&nbsp; If the owner happened to leave a few in uncirculated condition -- quite possible given the relatively low circulation of gold coins -- it&#039;s not surprising that thousands of EF-quality gold coins survive from the tens of millions that were probably minted.</p><p><br /></p><p>Silver is more reactive than gold, but the main corrosion culprit is airborne hydrogen sulfide gas that reacts with the silver surface to form silver sulfide, otherwise known as silver tarnish.&nbsp; This patina forms its own barrier against further reactions, though, so further degradation of silver is usually pretty limited unless the silver is debased with other metals or in contact with other silver coins or metals that might set up an electrolytic reaction (called &quot;horn silvering,&quot; in which chemical elements of the soil leach silver from one coin and re-deposit it in a modified form on a neighboring coin).&nbsp; So while silver coins will need more cleaning after discovery than gold coins, many will be able to be cleaned relatively well.&nbsp; With hundreds of millions of silver coins having been minted and hoarded (certainly more common than gold), again it seems probable that reasonably large numbers survive in EF condition.</p><p><br /></p><p>Bronze and copper coins are a different matter.&nbsp; Copper is a more reactive metal than silver, and in addition, is susceptible to &quot;bronze disease,&quot; a self-perpetuating chemical reaction that eventually destroy those parts of the coin it touches (until the oxygen needed in the reaction is used up).&nbsp; But again, AE coins were the most widely used in all type of commerce, so of the billions that were minted, tens of thousands would have survived in sufficiently good condition to be cleaned without destroying their features.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Finally, there is some anecdotal information (I can&#039;t recall the source just now, though) that even ancient societies had coin collectors, so it wouldn&#039;t be surprising that, say, during the time of Nero, a few dozen ancient collectors hoarded some of the better quality coins that came into their possession, and these hoards were eventually found.</p><p><br /></p><p>One of my coins that I find to be possibly mint state is this aureus of Nero:</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]412432[/ATTACH] </p><p>NERO&nbsp; 54 - 68 A.D.</p><p>AV Aureus (7.33 g.)&nbsp; Rome 64 - 65 A.D.&nbsp; RIC 54</p><p>Obv. NERO CAESAR - AVGVSTVS Laureate head r.&nbsp; Rev. Roma seated l. on cuirass, holding Victory in r. hand and parazonium in l.; in exergue, ROMA</p><p><br /></p><p>The level of detail visible on both the obverse and reverse is just beautiful, even including the detail on Roma&#039;s helmet.</p><p><br /></p><p>This is just one of a number of other gold and silver coins that are remarkably well preserved and in nearly mint state.[/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