Should I clean this Injun?

[Blind.In.Texas]

or leave it just the way I found it. I think it only books for about $2.00.
Obverse:
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_pKHOolxzTcQ/S2pDxiShK0I/AAAAAAAAARU/kRv1VngM1dk/83 IH OB 500px.jpg

Reverse:
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_pKHOolxzTcQ/S2pDxxwRh_I/AAAAAAAAARY/Mgl9vzNZSJw/83 IH Re 500px.jpg

 

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[jdsarasin8194]

Never clean coins! It deminishes the value of the coin, always leave it.
Nice IH

 

[Rooter]

That rule applies 99.99% of the time but in this particular case you really can't hurt the value of that coin. Go ahead and clean it. Enjoy it. It has no numismatic value in that corroded condition but if it does clean up a little someone may want it as a book filler. IH's are always a cool find.

 

[Iron Patch]

That rule applies 99.99% of the time but in this particular case you really can't hurt the value of that coin. Go ahead and clean it. Enjoy it. It has no numismatic value in that corroded condition but if it does clean up a little someone may want it as a book filler. IH's are always a cool find.

Nope, definitely not 99.99% because we're talking dug coins, not ones off the dealers table. There is a HUGE difference. Dug vs non dug.

Also, I will disagree with cleaning that particular coin because in my opinion it's as good as it will be, so why try to clean and make it worse.

 

[jdsarasin8194]

That rule applies 99.99% of the time but in this particular case you really can't hurt the value of that coin. Go ahead and clean it. Enjoy it. It has no numismatic value in that corroded condition but if it does clean up a little someone may want it as a book filler. IH's are always a cool find.

Nope, definitely not 99.99% because we're talking dug coins, not ones off the dealers table. There is a HUGE difference. Dug vs non dug.

Also, I will disagree with cleaning that particular coin because in my opinion it's as good as it will be, so why try to clean and make it worse.

True, but if it is a dug coin, it shouldn't be hard to clean dirt from a coin. rather than corroding such as your's, cleaning will only make it worse.

 

[fistfulladirt]

That rule applies 99.99% of the time but in this particular case you really can't hurt the value of that coin. Go ahead and clean it. Enjoy it. It has no numismatic value in that corroded condition but if it does clean up a little someone may want it as a book filler. IH's are always a cool find.

Nope, definitely not 99.99% because we're talking dug coins, not ones off the dealers table. There is a HUGE difference. Dug vs non dug.

Also, I will disagree with cleaning that particular coin because in my opinion it's as good as it will be, so why try to clean and make it worse.

Iron Patch, I fully agree with your statement. Dug coins are dug coins.

 

[Rooter]

Iron Patch, I understand and it's obvious that it's a dug coin so I'm not sure what you meant by the dealers table comment. This coin has verdigris. Cleaning it will stop the corrosion from getting worse. Let's call it conserving rather than cleaning to be more clear. The reality is that it's a coin with no value in this condition so that he can do anything he wants with it to make it more pleasing to him or he can leave it alone. We are speaking of the specifics on this exact coin so the whole dug vs. non dug is really not the issue.

 

[mts]

I agree with Rooter. As-is it will only get worse and has no value. So go ahead and clean/preserve it if you want to.

A dealer won't pay you anything for it either way. Dealers are very particular about cleaned coins. But cleaned up you might be able to eventually sell it on eBay to someone based on sight. People on eBay are less likely to care about buying a cleaned coin and some people buy solely on how appealing it is. So depending on who you try to sell it to it could in reality be worth more cleaned than dirty. But it will never be worth that much anyway.

I say clean it. What do you really have to lose?

 

[Iron Patch]

That rule applies 99.99% of the time but in this particular case you really can't hurt the value of that coin. Go ahead and clean it. Enjoy it. It has no numismatic value in that corroded condition but if it does clean up a little someone may want it as a book filler. IH's are always a cool find.

Nope, definitely not 99.99% because we're talking dug coins, not ones off the dealers table. There is a HUGE difference. Dug vs non dug.

Also, I will disagree with cleaning that particular coin because in my opinion it's as good as it will be, so why try to clean and make it worse.

True, but if it is a dug coin, it shouldn't be hard to clean dirt from a coin. rather than corroding such as your's, cleaning will only make it worse.

But it's not dirt, it's corrosion, and the type that when removed does not make the coin better. Again that's just my opinion based on the picture.

 

[Iron Patch]

Iron Patch, I understand and it's obvious that it's a dug coin so I'm not sure what you meant by the dealers table comment. This coin has verdigris. Cleaning it will stop the corrosion from getting worse. Let's call it conserving rather than cleaning to be more clear. The reality is that it's a coin with no value in this condition so that he can do anything he wants with it to make it more pleasing to him or he can leave it alone. We are speaking of the specifics on this exact coin so the whole dug vs. non dug is really not the issue.

What I meant by the dealers table comment, is that this whole idea of not cleaning coins comes from dealers because their experience is dealing with non dug coins which rarely have to be cleaned, and cleaning most times does do damage to them.

Even if left that coin probably wouldn't look a whole lot different 20 years from now. It definitely does not work the same way as iron, and even if there is a concern the best way to "conserve" it would be to seal it, not strip the surface.

My main point is this has nothing to do with it being common or the value, it's all about the condition which has to be looked at on a case by case basis. Even if it was a coin that booked for 10k in VG it would not change anything I said, and if the condition was different, and could be made better, I'd suggest cleaning it.

 

[Iron Patch]

I agree with Rooter. As-is it will only get worse and has no value. So go ahead and clean/preserve it if you want to.

A dealer won't pay you anything for it either way. Dealers are very particular about cleaned coins. But cleaned up you might be able to eventually sell it on eBay to someone based on sight. People on eBay are less likely to care about buying a cleaned coin and some people buy solely on how appealing it is. So depending on who you try to sell it to it could in reality be worth more cleaned than dirty. But it will never be worth that much anyway.

I say clean it. What do you really have to lose?

So how would you suggest to clean it?

What is there to lose?.... not a lot, but I won't strip the patina on an old coin leaving pitted simply because it doesn't have much value. Heck my coins I consider to be pretty Killer aren't even worth $40. This doesn't really have to do with money.

 

[Blind.In.Texas]

I took the liberty of shooting a few more pictures. Maybe this will shed some light on the subject. Also, since there is a digger mark on it I thought may that might help in the decision. I did not notice the digger mark until I shot the macros today. I was next to an old tallow tree when I dug it up. This coin has never seen anything except water and a tooth brush on the day I brought it home.
===========================================
I just took a deeper look at the first picture. The patina is IN THE SCRATCH!!! YAYY I did NOT scratch it. After looking very closely at the macros, I seem to find quite a bit of pitting in places where the patina has come loose. I think cleaning it will make it a whole lot worse than it is.

Thanks for all the input. I believe I will leave it as is. I don't think I will be sorry if I DON'T clean it but, judging from the macros there is a good chance of turning a decent looking dig into a hideous ogre.

 

[Iron Patch]

I took the liberty of shooting a few more pictures. Maybe this will shed some light on the subject. Also, since there is a digger mark on it I thought may that might help in the decision. I did not notice the digger mark until I shot the macros today. I was next to an old tallow tree when I dug it up. This coin has never seen anything except water and a tooth brush on the day I brought it home.

Use a toothpick to lightly scrap the crust around the letters if it seems like dirt that will come off, and that's it. If you do anything else, which would have to be harsh to further clean it, it will be one ugly coin.

PS... Finds like that probably shouldn't even see water. See the brown/orange spots, that's mostly due to being washed off. If you were to clean this coin, times them by a few hundred. (Some finds you could have actually made much worse with water) Next time try a peroxide soak, maybe a little brushing but let air dry. (no water) I find it to be a pretty good trick at keeping the color on my early copper finds. As the coins get more modern the condition can change quite a bit, and there is no general rules to what should be cleaned and what not, always coin by coin. As I said earlier sometimes something when dug is as good as it's going to be, and that's the case for your indian.

 

[Blind.In.Texas]

I took the liberty of shooting a few more pictures. Maybe this will shed some light on the subject. Also, since there is a digger mark on it I thought may that might help in the decision. I did not notice the digger mark until I shot the macros today. I was next to an old tallow tree when I dug it up. This coin has never seen anything except water and a tooth brush on the day I brought it home.

Use a toothpick to lightly scrap the crust around the letters if it seems like dirt that will come off, and that's it. If you do anything else, which would have to be harsh to further clean it, it will be one ugly coin.

PS... Finds like that probably shouldn't even see water. See the brown/orange spots, that's mostly due to being washed off. If you were to clean this coin, times them by a few hundred. (Some finds you could have actually made much worse with water) Next time try a peroxide soak, maybe a little brushing but let air dry. (no water) I find it to be a pretty good trick at keeping the color on my early copper finds. As the coins get more modern the condition can change quite a bit, and there is no general rules to what should be cleaned and what not, always coin by coin. As I said earlier sometimes something when dug are as good as they are going to be, and that's the case for your indian.

It's back in the sleeve. This is Houston, TX. That Injun has seen 50+" of water a year (sometimes a lot more) since the day it was dropped. I really doubt that a tooth brush and some water did any harm. I appreciate the input and insight. Hopefully I will dig more coins like this. If I do, I doubt they will ever be in this good of condition.

 

[Iron Patch]

I took the liberty of shooting a few more pictures. Maybe this will shed some light on the subject. Also, since there is a digger mark on it I thought may that might help in the decision. I did not notice the digger mark until I shot the macros today. I was next to an old tallow tree when I dug it up. This coin has never seen anything except water and a tooth brush on the day I brought it home.

Use a toothpick to lightly scrap the crust around the letters if it seems like dirt that will come off, and that's it. If you do anything else, which would have to be harsh to further clean it, it will be one ugly coin.

PS... Finds like that probably shouldn't even see water. See the brown/orange spots, that's mostly due to being washed off. If you were to clean this coin, times them by a few hundred. (Some finds you could have actually made much worse with water) Next time try a peroxide soak, maybe a little brushing but let air dry. (no water) I find it to be a pretty good trick at keeping the color on my early copper finds. As the coins get more modern the condition can change quite a bit, and there is no general rules to what should be cleaned and what not, always coin by coin. As I said earlier sometimes something when dug are as good as they are going to be, and that's the case for your indian.

It's back in the sleeve. This is Houston, TX. That Injun has seen 50+" of water a year (sometimes a lot more) since the day it was dropped. I really doubt that a tooth brush and some water did any harm. I appreciate the input and insight. Hopefully I will dig more coins like this. If I do, I doubt they will ever be in this good of condition.

Probably not if you say, but it can. Depends on the condition.

 

[Rooter]

Since you have used a toothbrush and water on the coin it has already been cleaned. You asked the question too late. It has character and if your happy with it then that's all that matters. I like IH's dug or otherwise!

 

[jdsarasin8194]

Those indents, the brown ones, are corrosion.
They will grow with the addition of cleaning with liquid (mostlikly) but a DRY toothpick should work.
The only reson why I say this is because I've tried it with water, same type of corrosion, and is an IH.

 

[stefen]

Realistically, this IH is not a barn burner when it comes to value...so clean it the best you can and use it as a place holder until a better one comes along...

 

[Iron Patch]

Those indents, the brown ones, are corrosion.
They will grow with the addition of cleaning with liquid (mostlikly) but a DRY toothpick should work.
The only reson why I say this is because I've tried it with water, same type of corrosion, and is an IH.

Nope... not from growing, it's from washing away the surface. (but some of the spots could have been there before cleaning) Some finds can be a beautiful and just a few seconds under water puts many brown spots. How it reacts depends on what type of patina the item has.

 

[NHBandit]

Too bad the ground seems to be so hard on Indians. It looks like it was a barely worn coin when it was lost.