Well... I wrecked my beautiful find

[jeff of pa]

Everyone has great points and I've tested many methods on my numerous Lincoln's with a fair amount better for my efforts . But I have recovered IH's that actually were completely covered in light green patina and showed perfect details and looked to be in excellent condition except for the green , they even had a gloss to them . However , my father-in-law tried to clean some he had the looked the same and after the green was gone so were a lot of the details that showed before . The best way is anyone's guess and I think it's up to the finder and they shouldn't be encouraged to clean their find's but they also shouldn't be scolded for it either . It's up to them . I think those he cleaned look fine and although they lost some of their value being cleaned , they are not scarce and worth a ton of cash . Now if it was done to a 1877 IH then that would be a problem .... IMHO , Woodstock

Yes I love finding nice shiny green indians with sharp detail.
Why would anyone want to remove it ?

early wheats 1930's & back come out "greening" but not quite as green.
I wish they would.

 

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[joeyfresh]

I know all too well how it feels to ruin copper coins. Our instinct is to clean something that looks dirty especially if your trying to see a date but I know around here, copper coins never fare well in these fields any attempt to clean them ends in disaster.

 

[jeff of pa]

I know all too well how it feels to ruin copper coins. Our instinct is to clean something that looks dirty especially if your trying to see a date but I know around here, copper coins never fare well in these fields any attempt to clean them ends in disaster.

I usually clean wheats in the field with Spit & the bottom of my T-shirts,
and indians with spit, my Fingernail and t-shirts ,
yes I destroy more T-shirts then coins.

anything older then indians I'm more careful

 

[dsinsc]

There is one thing I've often wondered though. I wonder if coins like this might lend itself to a painting, plating, or some such? I mean after the coin is already trashed, not much to lose, right? I wonder if one could take a coin like this to be restored? It's already fried and would never be worth anything. (Unless, maybe, it was gold plated? )

Whatcha think experts? Might a piece of history be somewhat preserved by something like this?

I think there's some hope for this coin, I've experimented with one of the methods mentioned in the reply above, namely painting. I'll add a picture of a Georgius Triumpho coin I traded a friend of mine for a Benchmade Auto pocket knife. I wish I had before and in progress pics but it was pretty nasty looking and had a crust that wouldn't come off. Only a couple letters were visible around the edge but enough to know it was a Triumpho. It had that kind of crust that was in patches and was black and raised up from the surface and hard as the metal itself. I ended up stripping it to bare shiny copper and after a little body and fender work I spray painted it just enough to hide the bare metal. After it dried I dusted it with a little powdery dirt to give it back it's "dug" look. I must say IP, I do like the concept of gluing a picture to each side of a messed up coin, might make for a good rainy day project

 

[asmerri]

There is one thing I've often wondered though. I wonder if coins like this might lend itself to a painting, plating, or some such? I mean after the coin is already trashed, not much to lose, right? I wonder if one could take a coin like this to be restored? It's already fried and would never be worth anything. (Unless, maybe, it was gold plated? )

Whatcha think experts? Might a piece of history be somewhat preserved by something like this?

I think there's some hope for this coin, I've experimented with one of the methods mentioned in the reply above, namely painting. I'll add a picture of a Georgius Triumpho coin I traded a friend of mine for a Benchmade Auto pocket knife. I wish I had before and in progress pics but it was pretty nasty looking and had a crust that wouldn't come off. Only a couple letters were visible around the edge but enough to know it was a Triumpho. It had that kind of crust that was in patches and was black and raised up from the surface and hard as the metal itself. I ended up stripping it to bare shiny copper and after a little body and fender work I spray painted it just enough to hide the bare metal. After it dried I dusted it with a little powdery dirt to give it back it's "dug" look. I must say IP, I do like the concept of gluing a picture to each side of a messed up coin, might make for a good rainy day project

You spray painted that coin? With what? It looks great!

 

[dsinsc]

With Krylon satin finish from Walmart just pick you a color, I used Italian Olive, I might go with something a little darker next time. The satin finish is a little glossy too but rubbing the dust in a bit dulls it down to just the right look.

 

[Trooper733]

It wont give you the green patina back, but you can mix sulphur powder with Vaseline and apply a thin coat to darken it back. Don't leave on too long or it will turn in black. This is something I learned from fellow numismatists to watch for when spotting cleaned and artificially toned coins in flips at shows and shops. I have tried it to see if it works and it does

 

[golden sluice]

Heck if you wreck a coin, go all out and make it your example coin to do your mad scientists experiments on. Muhhhha hahaha!