Of all the copper and bronze ancient coins I have seen, they have all been green from oxidation and age. Now, I have seen some coins from the 1400s that are still red. Are there any ancients out there that look freshly minted?
I mainly collect silver but there are higher grade coins in every metal imo. These ones are not that bad gradewise...
Some can even be quiet affordable. I used to own this one, but donated it to a (Cointalk?) fundraiser a few years ago:
To be fair, I WOULD say there isn't ancient copper that looks just like it was minted. Not unless someone just stripped the patina, (which in that case doesn't look like it left the mint either). Btw Detecto, any "full red" 1400 coins would ALSO have to have been just recently stripped. Its hard enough to keep a 100 year old coin "full red", most by that age if they are still red are dark red. I am perfectly fine, though, having ancient copper coins brown and green. Could you imagine a sestertius? I think it would look gawdawful bright and shiny brass. Ick!
Dang....those are Phat....I never get tired of seeing the best Thasos tetradrachm (coin #1)that exists into the modern era.I just wanted to point that out...Behold all.
Call me goofy, but its the second coin in that pic that really stands out to me, and makes the hair on the back of my neck stick out.
I wanted to point out I have the same coin, in pretty high grade so you guys can see for comparison. IMHO between his coin and my coin there is absolutely no comparison.
See I agree but thats just money! Part of Hare separated in the last 2400 yrs. (That coin is still absurdly nice)
You find copper coins from even 20 years ago that aren't red anymore. I seriously doubt that a red copper from the 1400s hasn't been cleaned. But yes, many ancients are extremely well-preserved. Bill (Ardatirion) told me that the best preserved coins are found physically in the middle of a hoard, for instance, the coins in the middle of a pottery vessel full of coins. Here's probably my best preserved coin, a bronze of Constantius Chlorus...
I have a very high grade (maybe the best) Elam Tetradrachm. Go ahead try and find a nicer one! And Yes the reverse is supposed to be ugly like that. The Obverse is shocking in a way that pictures cannot capture.
People who won't own a cleaned coin should not buy ancients. Natural silver 2000 years old is at least dark gray. That is the subject of another thread here. When does cleaning stop and tooling start? Is smoothing a form of heavy cleaning or light tooling? All this silliness over toned US will end when all those rainbow coins grey over. I don't claim any of my coins are fully original surfaced. Some are still pretty.
