I've
had my eye on a couple of imperial
denarii for a long time, the dealer notes that they have
crystalization, and is up front about it. They have a slight frostiness but overall look attractive, and for what my
budget allows, could fill an important slot in my
collection. I am wary though,
crystallization can't possibly be
good. I have dealt with bronze coins in my uncleaned coin exploits that sometimes seem to have degraded to a granular
matrix and become brittle. I discovered this when I dropped a superbly cleaned and nearly perfect
Aurelian Antoninianus on the floor once and it shattered into several pieces, breaking my heart in the process. Is silver
crystalization a similar phenomenon?
I searched the
forum and read what little there was on
crystalization, but I'm wondering if there is a better answer, or if I should avoid a
crystalized coin altogether.