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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;JDSCOIN, post: 25139, member: 1751&quot;]I agree with National dealer. I am not sure just how much he knows about ancient coins in particular, but his advice makes sense. Yes, you are correct. Many of the tetradrachm coins of that time were of debased silver, referred to as &#039;billon&#039; silver.</p><p><br /></p><p>Since there is a relatively high copper content in these coins, they are often found with various degrees of corrosion. National dealer sounds like he is more familar with U.S. and other later coins than with ancients. However, what he said is good advice. But unlike U.S. coins, we can be more liberal in what we do with ancient coins in terms of cleaning them.</p><p><br /></p><p>You certainly would not want to do anything that would destroy any of its original surface or numismatic value if at all possible. I will tell you that you CAN indeed stop the spreading of the corrosion once you have removed as much of it as possible. You can do what archaeologists do when they find these coins, and that is to put a thin coating of laquer over the coin. This is, of course, up to you. You may not like the idea of doing that and many people do not; but it is an accepted way of preserving ancient coins and is used by archaeologists themselves. You may want to look into this further yourself before trying this. Regards,</p><p><br /></p><p>John[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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