I know this has been asked a million times but, how do I clean this?

[Colorado Kidd]

It is copper and our ground isn't too kind to that metal. I would just like to get it readable. I don't expect it to be like new. I've heard soak it in olive oil. I've tried vinegar but that turns the metal red and makes it worse. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I want to give it to the land owner. It is truely an honor to be allowed access to this very historic and early site for our neck of the woods. It is a stopping place and trading post on the spanish trail.

 

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[Montana Jim]

It's copper... but, what IS it? Were you going to add a picture?

 

[Colorado Kidd]

Sorry, here it is.

 

[teverly]

see the cleaning coin page and try the peroxide cleaning method.
Vinegar is basically an acetic acid and probably just eats the metal away.
Good luck!!!!

 

[bobinsd]

Try your wife's ultrasonic jewelry cleaner. Can't hurt!

 

[EDDE]

or your wifes denture cleaning tablets

 

[smudger]

try a tooth brush and sopy water.anything else will damage the metal.

 

[bcs123]

i read on the cleaning page a potato works good for pennies maby it'll work 4 u

 

[bear500]

Sorry, here it is.

Hi i have used horse mollasses and water ( 5 to 1 ) ie: 1 part mollasses to 5 parts water and it has worked for me down here in Australia , I guess it depends on how bad it is , soak the item for about a week ( no chemicals in the mollasses )...good luck....Bear

 

[Old Dog]

Try using 409 and soaking for a while.

The olive oil method will work tho if you have time... could take years for it to get as clean as you want.
I have some ancient coins from the middle east that have been in olive oil for some time , and since 1997 I have only been able to pull out about a half dozen that have cleaned up good. But they are better all the time..

Don't expect the pitting to go away, our Colorado soil can really eat up an old copper coin with all the alcalinity.

Any acid will give you the straight red copper base of the medal shown in your pics, Muriatic acid will remove all the crap and leave only the remaining metal. If you want to darken it back up use a lye solution, it will turn almoast black Immediatly.

Best of luck,
Old Dog

 

[Silver Searcher]

Try using 409 and soaking for a while.

The olive oil method will work tho if you have time... could take years for it to get as clean as you want.
I have some ancient coins from the middle east that have been in olive oil for some time , and since 1997 I have only been able to pull out about a half dozen that have cleaned up good. But they are better all the time..

Don't expect the pitting to go away, our Colorado soil can really eat up an old copper coin with all the alkalinity.

Any acid will give you the straight red copper base of the medal shown in your picks, Muriatic acid will remove all the crap and leave only the remaining metal. If you want to darken it back up use a lye solution, it will turn almost black Immediately.

Best of luck,
Have to agree with old dog..... you can't beat olive oil I usually clean of with soap and water dry, then wrap in ti shoo paper soaked in olive oil it takes about to weeks for the detail to show and gets better with time, heres one I did earlier. TK.

 

[BioProfessor]

First of all, are you sure it is copper? Second, have you looked at the coin's lettering to get an idea of how bad the metal has been eaten away? You can usually see this under at least a 10x loupe in a place you have been able to physically remove the "crud." A toothbrush and toothpaste works pretty well to get it to a point where you can see the pitting damage to letters.

Sometimes getting it clean makes it look worse. It just depends on how much metal has been eaten away. Once it's gone, it's gone.

You seem very concerned about getting the coin to a condition where the property owner would be proud to have it as a souvenir from items on the property. In this case, there are a few things you can do. Give a call to a few jewelers (not jewelry stores in a mall) but people who make and repair custom jewelry. Sometimes they will have a sand blaster for cleaning metal. It doesn't use sand as an abrasive but uses baking soda. The baking soda is so "soft" it won't damage the metal but will remove all the crud and corrosion. I have one and it works great. I would offer to clean the coin for you with it but I am out of the country until August. There has to be someone close that has one. If by August you are still trying, I'll be glad to do it for you.

You say the item is copper, that means it can be plated. The owner may not care if the item has the original surface or not. A small plating company may be able to alternatively plate and buff off metal until some of the pitting is filled in and showing a much smoother surface. You might think about a silver plate. It looks nice, is pretty easy to do, and shouldn't be that much.

Last on my list would be to clean it with a soft brush (toothbrush works well) and a non-chemically active metal polish (NOT BRASSO, ETC) and just clean it up as good as you can. I use some and it is really like old-fashioned toothpaste and it works. It's like the kind that took stuff off your teeth mechanically and not the gel stuff today that really doesn't do that much. Then mount the item in a small frame with some information about it and present it to the landowner as a treasure to hang on the wall and enjoy. If it cleans up so most things are visible and it looks "clean," it may be all you need to do and the outcome will be positive.

Just adding my thoughts to the list.

Daryl

 

[Yarrum]

I always use electrolysis and have had great results. Not everyone's cup of tea especially if the item is of moderate or large value. You'll find some great references to electrolysis on the cleaning page. That's where I got the idea from, all sorts of info on tn.

 

[Jeffro]

Do the potato thing first, thats the least likely method to damage the thing. BTW, Its a religious charm, I found a similar one last year.