Hello all!
Well, I gotta admit up front that I have pretty much no idea what I'm doing. I bought my first few coins from this website a couple weeks ago after talking to a few of the
members here, and was thrilled with holding a piece of
history in my
hands when they arrived. This competition looked like a lot of fun and a great way to learn more about coin collecting, cleaning, and
attribution.
The first doesn't look like it needs major
work, and is the thickest of the lot. The second is pretty easy to make out, but looks a
bit pockmarked. The third, if I squint really hard I can almost make out shapes under the crud. The other three I have no idea. I found by accident that one of the indiscernible coins is slightly magnetic, which I thought was interesting.
I've been reading as many threads as I can, and I know that the big rule is to try to preserve the
patina, and that undercleaning is preferable to overcleaning. I got a feeling this is going to be a
bit of trial and error for me.
