not_gold_collection

The Not Gold Collection - We All Have One

I had intended to present a somewhat lighthearted piece about coins we find that at first give us the hope that maybe, just maybe, we had beat the odds and actually found gold. Instead I find myself in the position of writing about sellers advertising claims of �Gold Found� in the uncleaned coins they sell and offer a thought or two regarding your odds and what I think is actually being found.

Gold!!!!

At one time or another, every new collector has cleaned a coin that appears to be golden colored. It starts the heart to pumping, you get excited only to be disappointed to discover it really isn�t gold. I have had to include myself in that category more than once. But, I�m getting ahead of myself here. What I really want to discuss are sellers that claim that gold coins are discovered in their uncleaned coins. Looking at the feedback that gets posted, you�d think that almost everyone finds gold. Hmmm, I must be the only unlucky one. Reality is, the chances of finding a gold coin among your uncleaned coins is probably about equal to being struck by lightning while laying naked in a ditch. (Don�t write me. I don�t want to know. LOL). Your chances of finding gold are only slightly worse if you don�t buy the coins at all.

The Reality Check

Let�s examine a few facts about gold. Gold is a precious metal that among its many characteristics, doesn�t tarnish. Silver, bronze, copper, brass and other metals used in ancient times do. Gold coins and artifacts come out of the ground pretty much clean by themselves. Granted, caked on mud and other dirt can build up on a gold coin, but not the chemical reactions that help form the crust you and I typically see on bronze and silver coins.

Detectorists in Europe and elsewhere generally aren�t ignorant people who are killing time hunting for a few clumps of buried dirty metal in the soil to sell to the tourists. These are people that generally are hobbiests like ourselves that enjoy detecting metal coins and other artifacts. They usually have a good idea when they have unearthed golden artifacts. But let�s suppose one does get by the detectorists. These coins and artifacts generally go to brokers or dealers who also make a living buying and selling artifacts and once again know the color of gold when they see it. So from here the coins are delivered straight to your door, right? Not unless you are buying direct from overseas. More than likely those coins go to a middleman who then sells them to your dealer. You don�t think these folks also know a gold coin when they see one? So, it is more than likely that your coins have passed through more than a few hands before you ever have a chance to touch them. Think about it. If you were a dealer and found a gold coin worth $200 or more, would you sell it as an uncleaned coin for $1-$2? I don�t think so. It would be like someone giving you a dollar bill and having someone knowingly giving you a couple of hundred dollars change.

What Gives?

So what gives with all the claims of gold and silver being found among uncleaned coins? A few sellers advertise on Ebay and elsewhere that the coins they sell contains gold and silver coins, sometimes tons of gold and silver. They list feedback from numerous customers extolling how good the coins are and make claims of finding gold and silver in 10 coin purchases. Yet, other dealers openly advertise that their lots will probably not contain gold and to beware of those making claims otherwise. I read and post messages on several ancient coin discussion groups and in the discussions, several dealers, with combined sales of well in excess of 1,000,000 uncleaned coins, reported one authenticated gold find among all those coins. They also say that silver and silver plated coins while slightly more common will still be a very small percentage of what you will find. Probably less than 1% of the coins you will receive. It has been my experience, purchasing both small quantities and large lots that the 1% figure holds pretty much true.

What can you as a buyer do to verify sellers claims? I can give you a number of suggestions if you are still not satisfied that finds of gold coins are extremely rare. Ask the seller if the customers that claim to have found gold had the coins authenticated by a jeweler, coin dealer, or authentication service. Ask if it is possible to see a copy of the authentication or have it posted where all prospective buyers can see for themselves. Ask if the seller would be willing to contact their customer and have them send an email, letter, fax, or whatever confirming they had in fact struck gold. You�ll more than likely find your answer by the response you get to your request. The one thing I would not recommend is to contact a seller�s buyers yourself without permission. It is called harassment by eBay and could get you booted from eBay.

Personally, I won�t buy from dealers making such claims. There are too many reputable dealers out there to waste my time and money chasing illusions. Ebay, for all the good it has done in bringing buyers and sellers together, is likely to do nothing to investigate such claims. Ebay is now too big and ancient coins occupies only a small corner of their business for them to worry about. As long as sellers aren�t openly displaying dishonest practices such as the selling of fake artifacts (and that is open for discussion), Ebay will continue to turn a blind eye.

The Not Gold Collection

So, if buyers are honestly claiming they have found gold coins and the reality is that it isn�t likely, what is being found? When I began this hobby, I was still naive enough to believe that while maybe rare that perhaps I would be the lucky one to find that rare gold coin.

In one of the first small batches of coins that I cleaned, one coin raised my heartbeat when it cleaned up to show a golden hue. Being a rank novice, I asked a dealer I had gotten to know what I had found. I received a reply that yes, I was correct, I hadn�t found gold but that under certain conditions the silver on silver coated or plated coins could uniformly wear down to a thin coat and show the bronze, copper or brass coin underneath giving it a gold type appearance. It became my first addition to the Not Gold Collection.

Next came a coin that I ignored and soaked for a couple of weeks. When I cleaned it with a nylon brush, the dirt came right off with no effort revealing a bright golden type colored pitted coin. Once again, the heartbeat raised and once again I discovered the truth that no, I hadn�t cleaned anything more than a highly polished brass called Orichalcum in Latin. This, I believe, is the "gold" being claimed to have been found in uncleaned lots..

Next came a question from a dealer himself about a coin that he had found at the bottom of a lot of coins he received. It was gold colored and clean. Looking at it, it is gold colored. However the size, weight, and the fact that it was pitted pretty much settled those thoughts. An old beat up featureless 24mm dupondis. Number 3 in the Not Gold Collection.

Another example I want to show you came to me in a lot of large crusty Imperial coins. It too cleaned up with no effort to reveal a golden colored coin with only a portrait visible ( Claudius?) and only the faintest of features on the reverse. It ended up being the big brother of the dupondis above, a sestertius. I keep it as it cleaned up. My gold medallion of the Not Gold Collection.

The last example I want to show you is one I recently acquired. It is a beautiful Trajan coin that is gold.....plated that is. The original coin is an brass 18mm semis that somewhere along it�s life has been gold plated. Yup, real gold. However, it has worn in spots to reveal its� brass base. Whether this is an ancient gold forgery, a modern copy or forgery, or just plated for kicks is unknown. One day, I will have this one authenticated and find the truth. For now, it goes with the rest of those coins in my fastest growing collection...the Not Gold Collection.