Well after nine weeks, the mailman finally came by with a package from UAE - a common bronze of Aretas IV, but this one is well-centered with complete devices on a round flan: a rarity among Nabataeans. "As found in a Saudi excavation" was the seller's description, and I thought it had good potential for a bit of conservation, so it went into the olive oil today.
I am not a fan of olive oil personally. I use pure water, some scrubs, then a coating of RenWax. I find olive oil darkens copper coins, sometimes very darkly depending on the makeup of the bronze.
I have no idea. That's all the information I got. But my understanding is that there are many sites on the Arabian Peninsula that are barely excavated. For instance, only about 25% of Petra has been thoroughly combed, and that's one of the largest and most famous sites. It'll be interesting to see what comes out of the region in our lifetimes. Actually, I've started with distilled water. Going to give it a month, then a gentle scrubbing and see what transpires.
Btw, idk about recently, but I do know a large hoard of these must have been found about 6-7 years ago. I bought about 180 of them about 5 years ago. Don't get terribly excited JA, many were vg-low end F coins. Maybe 60-70 were higher end F to low VF quality. Many are offcenter as well, which you know is an issue with this series. Back then, I must have seen around 5,000 for sale if there was one. They are fairly small coins, though, so it doesn't take much of a hole to contain 5,000 of them. Ancient coins are like this. Always remember to take advantage when a hoard hits. Those who shop around can tell. Scarce coins always become scarce once again in 5 years after a hoard hits. 10 years ago high grade Shapur I coins were EVERYWHERE. XF's were going for $150. Now try to buy one.
It's the worst neighborhood on the planet. The closest I'd like to get is Turkey - lots of ancient sites to see there.
