Ave!
This early
Roman Imperial Æ
Dupondius arrived not long ago in a lot of "uncleaned" coins. Makes me want to cry, folks. Note the horribly over-cleaned
obverse vs the green dirt-covered
patina on the
reverse. Not sure who tried to clean this coin but he was a "shoe-maker", a term I use for those who do not have a clue as the proper way to clean and restore
ancient coins.
Herein lies the lesson, my brethren, and where he screwed up.
As you all know,
patina is your friend and not just for beauty. In many, if not all cases, when fully removed or stripped, you'll find nothing below the
patina but corroded junk, bare metal and missing legends as seen on the
obverse.
The moral of this lesson is to always take your time, use DW soaks and hand-held mechanical
tools such as a diamond-dust
dental pick, common
dental picks or dull-bladed scalpels...yes, dull-bladed.
Best to all,
Kevin