Do you really want to add coins?
Nice barong. People seem to agree it had coins, but do you really want to "restore" it that way? Makes it look nicer, I agree, but coins are dated, so now you will have added iffy date information to the piece. Even if you were sure of the original date, and got coins that matched, and even knowing that coins on an artifact can be added at any time in its life.
I say this because one of my frustrations collecting such things is the total lack of history on most of them, which would tell us so much about their story. The most you usually get when you ask the seller is "I bought it from Mr. Y who had it for years" which obviously tells you nothing much you want to know.
I'm not trying to attack anyone here, but I wish everyone would keep better records of where and when and who from, and keep them WITH the artifact, and pass that (and researched info) on to the next owner.
Cheers,
John
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