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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;robinjojo, post: 24658674, member: 110226&quot;]Those two videos are very interesting and disturbing.&nbsp; I&#039;ve stayed away from coins with certificates and salvaged coins in general, unless they are rare and in decent condition.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Also, I never really liked Mel Fisher. A local coin dealer, many years ago, &quot;invested&quot; in one of his ventures and was rewarded with a highly corroded, over-cleaned Mexico 8 reales, for $1,200 as I recall - a total ripoff.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Additionally Fisher cleaned the encrusted coins using electrolysis, where the coins were suspended in water and an electrical current ran through a wire.&nbsp; The result was cleaned coins to the point of being too bright and reflective, almost as if they were brushed, but without the hairlines.&nbsp; I guess that was a relatively cheap way to process a large number of coins at a time, but the results left much to be desired.</p><p><br /></p><p>Getting back to the videos, there was and is some pretty dubious activity going on.&nbsp; The examples shown do show the same &quot;strikes&quot;, with varying levels of casting quality.&nbsp; As I mentioned I don&#039;t care for certificates, much less framed certificates!</p><p><br /></p><p>The presenter also mentions beveled edges.&nbsp; This might have been done by this now defunct company, along with shaping the flans to make them more individual.&nbsp; Also, apparently the Mexico City Mint also beveled the edges of some of their coins, particularly gold coins, according to Alan K. Craig, who did a study of the 1715 Fleet 8 escudos in the Florida State Collection.&nbsp; This study can be found in the edition of Florida Archeology, Number 4, 1988.&nbsp; He argues that the beveling was applied to the coins after the die striking process was completed.&nbsp; Why this was done is not clear, but there certainly seems to be a pattern of this practice when one looks at a number of these coins.&nbsp; My coin shows beveled edges, particularly on the cross side.&nbsp; This is my only gold cob from this period, as the affordability of these coins, never great, has plummeted as the prices have skyrocketed over the years.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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