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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Insider, post: 2711780, member: 24314&quot;]Volodya asks:&quot;Where are the equally obvious denarii or aurei?&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>I can answer this very easily:</p><p><br /></p><p>1. Up until more modern times (<span style="color: #5900b3">Possibly beginning in the 1970&#039;s as that is when I first started examining ancient coins with a Nikon SMZ-2 stereo microscope with a range of 4X to 80X using different accessories and we (me and the other mice) were detecting alterations to genuine gold and silver ancients.</span>) I&#039;ll bet the majority of these alterations to gold and silver coins went undetected.&nbsp; Ancient dealers rarely used magnification.&nbsp; They didn&#039;t need it to detect carved up, pitted, and smoothed-out copper because it&#039;s a naked eye thing!</p><p><br /></p><p>2.&nbsp; Gold is unaffected by the elements.&nbsp; It is not found corroded so only the design details would be altered by tooling.&nbsp; I have seen scratches removed from the fields of aurei and Byzantine solidi decades ago.&nbsp; Also rim and edge repairs from removal from jewelry.</p><p><br /></p><p>Silver does corrode so more of these coins were tooled than gold.&nbsp; All I said about repairs and tooling to gold apply to silver ancients as well. Again, all seen decades ago and still seen today.</p><p><br /></p><p>We all know what happens to alloys of copper.&nbsp; These coins have been improved, tooled, repaired, reengraved, and er &quot;smoothed&quot; for centuries. Everyone knows that and everyone is looking for it on these coins. It&#039;s as common as they are!&nbsp; That&#039;s why someone in the business may be of the opinion that gold and silver ancients are never or at least rarely altered!&nbsp; That is not true.&nbsp; But I don&#039;t have photos so...fogetabouit. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie104" alt=":yawn:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>PS,&nbsp; As I posted months ago, the newcomers to this hobby and even long time professional dealers and auction houses <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie47" alt=":greedy:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> adopted the word &quot;smoothed&quot; to make the method of altering a coin&#039;s surface by tooling (using a tool to change the coin&#039;s surface or design) more acceptable. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie96" alt=":vomit:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie46" alt=":facepalm:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> It&#039;s the same thing as TPGS&#039;s calling buffed or polished coins &quot;cleaned.&quot; The <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie30" alt=":bucktooth:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />&quot;suckers&quot; who buy the coins swallowed it. I cannot think of a less offensive/abrasive way to pass my opinion <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie26" alt=":bookworm:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> on.<img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie87" alt=":sorry:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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