I while back, i was experimenting with uncleaned lots on
Ebay. Since i was experimenting, I didn't want to drop too much
money on any one lot. I found one that advertized a silver coin with every 10 coins and gold clad with every 30. I though I would give it a try.
Man! was I in for a surprise! The Gold clad coin was a
Valens AE3 with the
victory advancing
reverse that they
had PLATED with gold. The coin looked like it was actually a nice example of that
type. Why would they want to destroy something in this way? The coin was never meant to be gold. In addition, they took a coin that was most probably nice and blurred the details with a layer of gold. How can that ever be
good? The only way for the gold to stick would be
electrolysis. that means that they destroyed a
patina too. How many other coins were destroyed when the
electrolysis it's self ruined a fragile coin? This practice is unacceptable.
Had I known what i was going to get, I would have looked elsewhere. I know better now. What do you guys think? Have you ever actually seen what these coins look like in hand? If you are curious, i can post a pic, but it will have to wait until I'm done traveling.