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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Drusus, post: 315422, member: 6370&quot;]see here is where you see how completely subjective this trend of cleaning phobia is...to call a coin that has been cleaned an &#039;alteration&#039; just seems like hyperbole used to make it sound worse than it is....nobody is tooling the coin. One could easily say that the reason older collectors cleaned coins (some poorly some not) and still do clean those old coins is that it is closer to how the coin is supposed to look and that the toning is in fact corrosion and that is, in fact, altering the coin and...to be honest...harming the coin. </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The fact is, the older the coin is, the more likely it has been cleaned and the farther you go back, the more likely until it gets to a point that ALL coins have been cleaned.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Both of these coins have been cleaned...to say they havent been would be insane because of their age and the state of the coin and medal:</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><img src="http://www.tribalsoup.com/caracalla.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><img src="http://www.cachecoins.org/civitas.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>But they are still very nice and no less valuable and desirable, they are probably far closer to how they were meant to be seen than if they were still coated with corrosion that made them brackish...in fact I think the medal has been polished, it shines like the sun. Both are great coins/medal and no less valuable...not altered in any way.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I have been getting coins from old collections compiled pre-1900 and I find these old collector often had no problem cleaning the coin to make it look presentable <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> Which shows how trends change...they may change back and then all of us that just buy beautiful coins and not bother with whether it has been cleaned or not (if it is not glaringly apparent or distract from the aesthetics) will have some real gems. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>It should be avoided if you can help it but unless it is harsh and abrasive, a bit of cleaning is not so bad if the coin needs it. If its done right, nobody will know or care. I have a slabbed silver coin from the 1600&#039;s...there is no doubt in MY mind its been cleaned but its not listed as cleaned on the slab, nor should it...its a great looking unaltered coin...thats all that matters. All just opinion of course...we all have our pet peeves and biases...<img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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