I would appreciate comments from experienced collectors on the captioned practice. I am quite new to ancients.
On various videos demonstrating the cleaning of
ancient coins, I see some cleaning which removes dirt and exposes the
patina...and stops there. Some other clearly expert cleaners go further by replacing the original dirt (I don't know how this is done) in the fields of the coin, resulting in a high contrast between the characters,
symbols, etc. and the "unraised" surface of the coin.
Is this return of the original dirt a common practice? Is it considered quite acceptable and simply a matter of personal taste/preference?
Does this practice have any impact on the grading services' judgment of a coin?
Thank you.