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How best to deal with small lot of dirty ancient Roman/Byzantine coins?

Just came across this lot from my brother's estate. What's the best/safest way to get dirt off so that i can see some more detail? Thanks for any suggestions.



Comments

  • BillDugan1959BillDugan1959 Posts: 3,821 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Condolences on the loss of your brother.

    I know gentlemen who can do excellent work in dusting ancients up and maybe adding a small bit of olive oil to make it all more presentable. But you should also consider that your brother possibly knew better than to fool with these, possibly because they were too common or of very low value or already so far gone as to be unidentifiable. Many late second and third century Roman bronze coins are very common and not special except for their great age - and that age alone doesn't translate into money or desirability.

    You need to locate someone in your area with moderate expertise in ancients before undertaking any cleaning or other similar 'improvements' to the coins. They need to eyeball the coins for anything of unusual value. Your present photos are not of great help.

  • shaf2bshaf2b Posts: 31 ✭✭

    Thank you for your prompt feedback, Bill. Very helpful

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