Are Ancients cleaned and treated for appearance? 0

[MN1]

I bought a Roman Empire Constantine coin with an NGC grade of Ch VF and verified it's legit with NGC.  Because of the age (AD 310-330) and how coins like these were found, are the surfaces typically treated and cleaned professionally before being encapsulated?  Mine appears to have been.  Just wondering if most are and how much grading had to do with that verses the age and condition otherwise. 

[JKK]

They are often cleaned and treated, but "for appearance" is not necessarily the case. In the case of late Roman bronzes like this one, it is not rare for them to be found in hoards that are essentially ginormous coin clods the size of a long-rotted-away wooden box. The first step is to start getting them loose. Once they are loose, they need to have enough of the accumulated crapulation removed that someone can tell what they are. I've never done it myself, but I think the process often involves olive oil and that sometimes they are given a protective finish of paste wax (I have read about this in cases where it was feared that bronze disease might come back). Either could account for the surface of your coin, which looks like an AE3.

[MN1]

Thank you so much!  That's informative. I'm a novice and heard people say don't try to clean coins but guess ancients are a different story.

[Just Bob]

When is it is treated to improve the appearance, it's cleaning. When it's done to preserve the coin, it's called "conservation." 

Edited June 25, 2020 by Just Bob

[JKK]

2 minutes ago, MN1 said:

Thank you so much!  That's informative. I'm a novice and heard people say don't try to clean coins but guess ancients are a different story.

When it is impossible to identify the coin without cleaning, one is faced with a choice: sit there staring at an impenetrable disk, or remove enough crud to discover what it is. You can see the pointlessness of the first choice, which leaves only the second.

It is easier to just tell novices "never clean coins" because 99.9% of the time, they shouldn't. The people who should are people who know things you do not (and that I also mostly do not). Thus, from your standpoint, what people said is good guidance. If it ever ceases to be, you'll know because you'll know you've become one of the people who knows when to disregard the rule.