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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;TIF, post: 2101474, member: 56859&quot;]I began collecting ancients via uncleaned coins, early May 2013.&nbsp; The idea of cleaning, identifying, and learning about them was very exciting.&nbsp; I bought from &quot;good&quot; sellers and from random eBay sellers.&nbsp; There was not much difference; they were all disappointing.&nbsp; Here&#039;s a recap of &quot;my first dirties&quot;.&nbsp; Few of them cleaned up much beyond the as-received images; fewer are worth bothering to photograph after cleaning.&nbsp; I wasn&#039;t patient or good with cleaning but if a year of soaking in oil or water doesn&#039;t change anything... it&#039;s a lost cause.&nbsp; &quot;Uncleaned&quot; is also a myth.&nbsp; All such uncleaned coins have been cleaned to some degree-- enough to get at least a general idea of what the coin is, or if it is markedly improvable.</p><p><br /></p><p>The following coins were all from Dirty Old Coins, imaged before attempted cleaning.&nbsp; I bought a few from each category.&nbsp; The Greek coins, at $12 per slug, were particularly sad.&nbsp; I don&#039;t regret dabbling in cleaning ancient coins but I certainly wouldn&#039;t do it again.&nbsp; Some forum members are quite adept at finding good uncleaned coins-- and then expertly cleaning them.&nbsp; &nbsp; Still other members are good at patiently searching eBay for truly good coins at great prices.&nbsp; I&#039;m sure [USER=21445]@Mat[/USER] , [USER=44210]@ValiantKnight[/USER] , and others have purchased many already-cleaned and markedly better coins without spending much more per coin.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/uploaded/ThisIsFun/20130508_UCa-composite.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><img src="http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/uploaded/ThisIsFun/20130508_UCb1-4-composite.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><img src="http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/uploaded/ThisIsFun/20130508_UCb5-10-composite.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><img src="http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/uploaded/ThisIsFun/20130508_UCc-composite.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><img src="http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/uploaded/ThisIsFun/20130508_UCd-composite.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><img src="http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/uploaded/ThisIsFun/20130508_UCe-composite.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><img src="http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/uploaded/ThisIsFun/20130508_UCf1-3-composite.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><img src="http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/uploaded/ThisIsFun/20130508_UCf4-7.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><img src="http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/uploaded/ThisIsFun/20130508_UCf8-10-composite.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>If for some reason I did want to try cleaning coins again, I would buy an imaged lot to prevent getting more $12 Greek slugs.&nbsp; That second eBay link looks like it has some coins that may clean up well.</p><p><br /></p><p>I had far more fun buying several large &quot;mixed lots&quot;.&nbsp; Most of the coins were unattributed and I learned quite a bit in the process of discovering what they were.&nbsp; Perhaps you&#039;d get more joy and education from buying a small assortment of already cleaned but unattributed ancient coins.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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