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Message:: [QUOTE="dougsmit, post: 2541018, member: 19463"]The coin is a Balkan mint sestertius which makes it look odd to me in the first place.  In particular, the cape is different from Rome coins.  I went online and looked at other Eastern coins and thought the style of the cape lines were a bit different as well.  That made me wonder if there had been some sharpening of some details.  Obviously there would be no way of ruling on that with any level of confidence based only on a photo but it would be a coin worth examining under a stereo microscope by someone who had handled other Eastern sestertii in high grade.  I'd feel lucky to have one in VG so my opinions are worthless. This coin reminds me of a situation with automobiles.  Some people will not repair very minor body damage to cars/trucks because it is always possible to tell it has been touched and some buyers would assume it had been wrecked more seriously.  This coin is suspect of having been touched up at least to the point of patina polish.  That makes me wonder how bad a wreck it was.  On the other hand, I suspect 90% of coins this perfect have some touchup of some sort if no more than super selective cleaning.  Just being perfect makes us suspicious that it it too good to be true.[/QUOTE]