I recently purchased a coin on ebay and seeing it it person, I question the authenticity. Has anyone seen cleaning or surface alteration like the photos? The coin is sharp but the surface is very granular. I am considering sending it back for questionable authenticity. ebay listing here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/231328942245
It's questionable alright, and is so any way you want to look at it, so is this one you'd really want to keep regardless?
Has anyone seen a chemical that does surface alteration like this? It is amazing how sharp the details are on the coin itself, it doesn't looked wizzed or like it is casted, it looks amazingly accurate to an early strike in detail, just the strange surface. It weighs out perfectly too. Passes the magnet test too.
The surfaces just don't look original. Nuf' said for that, and all the more reason to step aside and move on down the road........
Like most things, appearance can be deceiving, but if a coin doesn't appear as cast, then it could have been heavily corroded, and someone opted to use electrolysis, which works by removing the corrosion, but can't fill back in the tiny pits where the corrosion was. Most collectors only would use it with crusty ancient coins, that often have that look by dry burial , and the result is mainly acceptable within that genre of coins. But since it is judgment by photo, that is my best shot
Thankfully the seller offers a 14 day money back guarantee. I found his listing to be forthright. Why did you buy this coin? You could tell this coin had problems both from the sellers pictures and the listing.
Thanks for all the replies, I agree that it was questionable from the photos but I took a chance and lost, they offer money back so I will return it. I am glad I posted this because now I will know what a coin that has had electrolysis looks like. Tomorrow I will be looking at it under a high power microscope at work, which should be interesting. The sell was forthright, i knew it was cleaned and AU, but I was unfamiliar with electrolysis.
If you look at the 'TE' in UNITED on the obverse and about 2 o'clock on the rev rim, I think you can see some of the blackish corrosion that could have covered larger areas before cleaning it off. Use the microscope to look at those areas first, and some of the deeper pits. Take photos if you can through the scope.
As a collector of ancients, I agree that the OP coin was probably corroded and cleaned by electrolysis. One sees this type of granular surface on ancient coins from time to time. Whether it's acceptable, however, depends on the coin and who you talk to. For example, here is a follis of Helena, the wife of Constantius Chlorus and mother of Constantine the Great. This coin was probably buried for 1700 years and the dirt refused to come off without drastic measures. Once it did come off, regardless of the cleaning method, it was clear that the coin was originally well-struck and experienced very little circulation, hence the incongruous combination of sharp detail and granular surfaces. Is this coin acceptable to a collector of Romans? Some of my colleagues said no. I thought it was, and I ended up selling it to someone else who also thought it was just fine. Beauty in the eye of the beholder. But a modern US commemorative? No. Send it back.
