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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 1550888, member: 19463&quot;]Modern coin collectors try to make their coins look like they never served as coins.&nbsp; They value mint luster that &#039;in nature&#039; disappears with a little real world exposure to any definition of &#039;the elements&#039;&nbsp; including air and fingers.&nbsp; Ancient coins lost this natural newness a millenium or two ago.&nbsp; 99.9% have been cleaned or seriously need to be.&nbsp; Natural tone for 2000 year old silver is black.&nbsp; Handling coins that have been cleaned might, if anything, give them a boost in retoning rather than damaging them.&nbsp; Most collectors don&#039;t want &#039;natural&#039; ancients but they want silver that looks like it is 20 years old (not 2000).&nbsp; Natural bronze patinas are prized more if they are a bit unnaturally even so many are polished or processed a bit.&nbsp; Pristine and perfect cleaned and smoothed coins might be better handled by the edges but that 2000 years of natural surface protectorant should be enough to guard coins from clean and dry hands.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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