While researching
ancient coins, I came across this on a website:
What Ancient Coin Dealers Won't Tell You!
Yes, there are a lot to collecting
ancient coins, and many of the basic things that you should know are never spoken about! Not by dealers, because they want to get RID of lesser grade coins, etc. And not by collectors, simply because they just do not realize some of the differences! For example, dealers won't tell you whether the coins you buy were found by a metal detector in the soil or in large caches buried or hidden in pots or jars. This, believe it or not, makes a lot of difference in the value of a coin in many cases. For one thing, a coin that has lain in the ground for centuries, no matter what surrounding conditions are, is going to take on some of the minerals in the soil. It starts to 'crystalize'! It turns from 'metal' to a very brittle piece of mineralized/fossilized coin/metal. It may
still LOOK like a coin, but it is no longer solid metal!!! If you were to try to bend one of these coins, it would not. It would break like a dry cracker! And, THAT, is what they will not tell you!!! You do not want to buy those kind of coins if at all possible, if you ever do, you do not want to think that it will have much chance of increasing in value. There are many of these coins around and no one knows a thing about this. But I am telling you about it here!
Is there any truth to this?? I'm just wondering..it seems like a stretch and I haven't seen anything about it at the
Forum.
Thank you for any input!!