History of Roman Coins
Most Ancient roman coins are found in Europe, West Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa, the lands that once were part of the Roman Empire. Before banks there was only dirt, so People buried their money, some people forgot where they buried their money or died without telling someone else where it was buried.
Soldiers often buried their money before battles (better the ground gets it than the enemy) also many families, plebs and farmers often buried their money. Lots of people lost coins then as they do today (although money was harder to come by so they were probably much more careful than we are).
Today many ancient coins are found by people with metal detectors, treasure hunters and archaeologist and only around 0.25 percent of all the ancient coins minted have survived.
There are around 55,000 different types of coins that where minted during the period of the roman empire some made from gold, silver bronze, orichalcum and copper, roman currency showed the immense strength of the ancient roman empire, certain coins like the iconic silver coins that was minted between 211 BCE and 274 CE played a vital role in boosting roman economy and it symbolized their power within the empire.
The number of roman coins produced during the 503 years of the romans rule is estimated to be around 20 billion coins. Many of the popular bronze roman coins found today have a patina usually the coins found in warmer dryer climates contain a darker colour patina but coins that have been found in wetter climates tend to have a greener colour patina, most coin collectors and enthusiast try not to remove the patina it is seen as desirable.
A coin’s patina is created when the bronze or copper coin reacts with the oxygen present creating a chemical reaction, so this basically means the patina is a coating that forms around the coin outer surface, this is what’s known as oxidizing this creates many different colours and this chemical reaction becomes part of the coins character. Many collectors won’t buy a coin that has been stripped of its patina and a coin with an attractive patina is usually much more valuable than a similar coin without a patina.
This is why when you are attempting to clean your coins you should do so carefully and slowly, sometimes the dirt covering the coin can often be as hard as cement and could prove difficult to remove but always stop when cleaning to make sure you are not removing the patina, you will know when you are because you will start to see a shiny coin this is when you have removed the patina.