Caracalla Denarius. Horn silver? advice needed

[BiancasDad]

Hello friends,

I picked this up recently in hopes of improving it with some cleaning. Seller's description says that it is "plated" but I'm not to sure about that, although silver isn't my area.

I have read many old threads on horn silver, lemon juice, etc etc and would like some advice on how to proceed with this coin.

One question first: Is this horn silver or some type of other deposit?

Thanks in advance for any help.

-Kurt

[Carausius]

Hi Kurt,
Why do you doubt seller's description that it's plated? From your photos, it looks like a plated coin with significant flaking-off of the plate layer, revealing a non-silver (probably bronze) core. Cleaning will not improve this coin, and would likely remove more of the silver plating.

[BiancasDad]

Thank you Michael.

I have poor eyesight and couldn't find my reader glasses and to my eyes the black areas looked convex on the surfaces.  Having found them I can see that you are correct. The best laid plans of Mice and Men..........guess I will have to leave it as is.

Cheers

[B-Chicago]

how much does it weigh?

and to me it looks like it is on top but I may be wrong - if it wasn't that expensive I would try various ways to see for sure

and

I have bought a Caracalla that both the seller and I thought was plated and it turned out it wasn't

soak it in distilled water for a few weeks and see what happens -

[SC]

It is clearly plated.  When you look closely at the pictures you can see that the very dark bits are below the silver.  However, there is some thicker dark green verdigris or corrosion on some of the exposed dark copper parts.

Personally I don't think anymore cleaning is possible.

The coin is kind of nice as it is and s clearly identifiable.

Shawn