teampunk said:
i was looking at them online and wanted to know if anyone here collects them. you can buy uncleaned ones from ancient Rome, that seem pretty cheap. even cleaned ones can be had for under 100 bucks. so i was just wondering if anyone here is into that kind of thing?
I've gotten some uncleaned Roman coins from eBay. Pretty cool, but, honestly, a real pain to clean. Olive oil, mild chemicals, distilled water, and lots and lots of scrubbing with a toothbrush. Takes time and effort. Quick cleaning solutions (harsh chemicals, Dremel, etc.) will destroy your coins.
Also, don't get too excited about uncleaned coins sold by the lot -- with descriptions that say buyers have found bunches of gold coins. If there were a lot of gold coins in there, they'd be cleaning them themselves.
They're still cool coins, some probably in good shape, but you probably won't find rare coins, gold, or silver in there. But you will have fun, and you will be able to identify at least a few of your coins, and you will have an awesome collection to show people.