Alternative copper coin cleaner/restorer

[Gonefishn]

I am no expert in metal detecting-or coins, or coin cleaning-and I definitely do not suggest cleaning coins, especially old copper coins (most I have seen are just too far gone)-but what good is it if you can't see the date/let alone the coin itself? I found an Indian Head Penny about a year ago...I cleaned it under running water with a toothbrush/tried some simple methods, still could not read the date...at some point I bought a can of "copper cream" made by "wrights" which is only for polishing copper cookware-wax on/wax off method. This stuff has no harsh etchers or acids, but oil/breaks apart built up corrosion.

One night I couldn't stand not being able to see the date on the penny so I put some 'copper cream' in the corner of a zip lock bag/jammed the coin into it, and went to bed. The coin 'was' awful-green and rough with build up...The next morning I noticed the white cream had turned green and there were small pieces of debris mixed in, it looked like the cream had absorbed the corrosion-I expected the worst-but what I found was awesome...Do not attempt to brush or rub your coin-just rinse it under warm water...it did not harm the coin at all-infact, I recently found another Indian Head and soaked it for 3 nights (rinsing the coin/changing the cream nightly) and it turned out as good as a 100 year old copper coin buried in acidic soil could turn out....here's a before an after of the 1887 Indian Head then just an 'after' of the 1909-both of these coins were in awful shape when I dug them, but at least I can see the date

 

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[Dozer D]

When all else has failed, use as a last result I guess. At least you now have tried.

 

[sprailroad]

A method to keep in mind. Thank you

 

[ironhorse]

The results speak for themselves, again, this method will be for the worst cases.
I would like to see your method on a coin with light to medium corrosion, just to compare to other coins cleaned by other methods. Sometimes the worst corrosion hides a really toasty coin, by cleaning up one with less corrosion we may be able to determine that the coin has good details already and just needs to have a lighter cleaning than the really crunchy ones.
If its as good as it looks and is not harmful, it's certainly something to consider