Quick
history which I've previously shared:
I originally entered the ancient coin collecting hobby in 2005-2006,
buying small lots of uncleaned
Romans off of
eBay and few from standalone shops. Played around with those for about a year, identifying maybe 10% and left ~300 remaining coins soaking in olive oil from 2006-2018. I returned to the hobby in
winter 2018, purchasing a few hundred uncleaneds directly from several vendors (including
Forum). My original/old purchases were all at a <$2/per coin pricepoint and many were <$1/coin. My recent/new purchases have ranged are primarily in $1.50-$2.00 range, and I've also purchased a couple small lots of premium uncleaneds at $3-8
per coin.
Last
winter, I pulled all my old uncleaneds out of olive oil and sorted them into three groups -- best, 2nd tier, and
still crusty/3rd tier. All three groups received a thorough scrubbing and several changes of distilled water soaks.
---
Which takes me to the present. Last night, I dumped those 3rd tier crusties out of the DW and gave them another scrubbing and examination. As expected, many are
still crusty, and others have obvious and extensive corrosion. A
good chunk manage to be both crusty AND corroded! A few are starting to come around and look pleasantly attributable, which is cool. Biggest surprise,however, are seven coins which appear to be Greek (small
diameter and very thick) and
Seleucid (bottlecap). Nothing like those in any of the 2018-2019 lots -- new lots have been 100%
Roman from what I can tell.
Has anyone else
had experience finding Greek or
Seleucid coins in uncleaned lots, past or present?
