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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Rich Beale, post: 2762344, member: 77960&quot;]There is a very clear difference between coins that have genuine earthen encrustations on their surface and coins that have been repatinated with some dust and glue combo.</p><p><br /></p><p>Coins that were originally found in certain arid terrains may bear what is popularly called a &#039;desert&#039; patina, which is nothing more than a soil and mineral concretion that adheres to the surface of the metal due to a very weak chemical process over the centuries. Coins with such encrustations/adhesions/concretions (call them what you will) may have their details selectively cleaned so as to remove this material from raised details, while leaving the fields and/or other parts of the surface untouched. This Byzantine nummus is an example of where cleaning to raised details only has been effected, leaving the real so-called &#039;desert&#039; patina untouched.</p><p><a href="https://www.sixbid.com/browse.html?auction=3357&amp;category=69410&amp;lot=2788346" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.sixbid.com/browse.html?auction=3357&amp;category=69410&amp;lot=2788346" rel="nofollow">https://www.sixbid.com/browse.html?auction=3357&amp;category=69410&amp;lot=2788346</a></p><p>similarly:</p><p><a href="https://www.sixbid.com/browse.html?auction=3357&amp;category=69408&amp;lot=2788249" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.sixbid.com/browse.html?auction=3357&amp;category=69408&amp;lot=2788249" rel="nofollow">https://www.sixbid.com/browse.html?auction=3357&amp;category=69408&amp;lot=2788249</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Coins that have been at any point in their existence fully cleaned and then had some mix of glue and dust or dirt deliberately applied to their surfaces to highlight their details are always so noted in our auctions, as per the following lots:</p><p><a href="https://www.sixbid.com/browse.html?auction=3357&amp;category=69404&amp;lot=2787798" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.sixbid.com/browse.html?auction=3357&amp;category=69404&amp;lot=2787798" rel="nofollow">https://www.sixbid.com/browse.html?auction=3357&amp;category=69404&amp;lot=2787798</a></p><p><a href="https://www.sixbid.com/browse.html?auction=3357&amp;category=69404&amp;lot=2787799" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.sixbid.com/browse.html?auction=3357&amp;category=69404&amp;lot=2787799" rel="nofollow">https://www.sixbid.com/browse.html?auction=3357&amp;category=69404&amp;lot=2787799</a></p><p><br /></p><p>It is worth noting that this habit of earthen repatination is endemic to Eastern countries, and is a practice whose popularisation is commonly attributed to Ya&#039;akov Meshorer, the Chief Curator for archaeology at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem and a prominent Israeli numismatist.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;Nerva&quot;, coins that have been repatinated are not &#039;faked coins&#039;. Yes, they have been tampered with as far as I am concerned, and I personally neither approve of the practice nor do I like the look of such repatinated coins. Nonetheless there is a real coin underneath the repatination and that is what we are selling on behalf of the coins&#039; consignors.</p><p><br /></p><p>You appear to single VCoins and our firm out as &quot;actors who ought to be arbiters upholding values&quot;. I shall take this as a compliment of sorts, which I hope was the spirit in which it was intended - that we should be in a position of influence to prevent such repatinated coins being sold. However what you have not considered is that some collectors, particularly Israelis and collectors of Judaean material <i>do</i> like it. Who are we to tell them they are wrong, that their preference is stupid, and that we won&#039;t sell their coins? The practice can hardly compared to tooling (which I do take strong exception to) since the underlying coin is not being harmed and the process is ultimately reversible; yet even tooling was once widely considered acceptable, even desirable. You also appear to be unaware that repatinated coins are frequently sold by other major auction houses such as CNG and Heritage, to name but two who also disclose where repatination has occurred (others do not).</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>While we are always grateful to our consignors for having chosen us as their venue to sell their property regardless of the number of coins consigned, this is not the reason for being offered a special thanks. This is reserved for those individuals not directly employed by us who have made particular efforts on our company&#039;s behalf or have lent us their professional assistance in the cataloguing/auction process.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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