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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Ken Dorney, post: 3046124, member: 76086&quot;]No.&nbsp; Or, if there was, none of them made it to the west (which would not be surprising at all).&nbsp; You got a nice catch.&nbsp; I really wanted to bid in this auction but as a dealer I wanted the group lots and in typical Stacks fashion they didn&#039;t photograph any of those lots.&nbsp; In some ways they are still 30 years behind the times.&nbsp; Thus I did not bid in the auction.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Doug.&nbsp; You aren&#039;t missing anything.&nbsp; With regards to Chinese coins there is a huge &#039;Chicken Little&#039; or &#039;Boy who Cried Wolf&#039; syndrome.&nbsp; Its true that the Chinese are experts at reproducing these coins and artificially patinating them, but like anything else with time and some learned skills its usually pretty easy to spot the fakes.</p><p><br /></p><p>As for crusty coins, it just depends.&nbsp; Many like them cleaned, others partially, again some down to smooth surfaces.&nbsp; And of course those encrustations can be an indication of authenticity.&nbsp; Many Chinese coins look uber crusty on the surface, but sometimes its just that.&nbsp; Surface.&nbsp; Encrustations should be very hard and not easily removed, certainly not with ones fingernail.&nbsp; I kept this one below kind of for this reason, but also (doesn&#039;t show in the photo) for the really attractive crystals and colors the original patina exhibits:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]761038[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Since river hoards were mentioned I might comment on those.&nbsp; China is unique archaeologically and geologically.&nbsp; There are certain properties there in which sometimes items come out of the ground nearly disintegrating but much more often nearly looking like they did when first deposited.&nbsp; About 20 years ago there was a big river hoard of Tang Dynasty coins in about mint state or so and with nice tan colored patinas.&nbsp; Very nice indeed.&nbsp; I am sure many now would look at them and think they are fake, but older collectors could glance at them and know where and when they came from.</p><p><br /></p><p>There are also different hoards.&nbsp; Those in which are not &#039;domestic&#039;.&nbsp; The Chinese exported coins all over their part of the world in trade and many are found just about anywhere.&nbsp; I kept the coins below, from a river hoard in Indonesia.&nbsp; They are pretty cool, you can still see bits of sand:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]761042[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]761043[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>One last photo.&nbsp; Some earlier coins as found, obviously originally deposited on their string and fused together that way.&nbsp; Nowadays with all the &#039;Chicken Littles&#039; coins are not cleaned much but like this, just separated into individual coins:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]761044[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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