2 Pocket Spill Day! Definitely My Best Hunt Yet! ...Cleaning tips?

[TreasureGuy25]

On Wednesday I went to a place that I've hunted a few times before, with nothing much more than a few wheaties and an indian. The first picture is of the first pocket spill... pulled out an '05 Barber, 17-S Merc, '45-P War Nickel, 4 wheaties, and 1 indian! After I got back from putting my finds safely in the car I checked the surrounding area very thoroughly. 10 feet away I got another pocket spill! This one had a 26-D?S? Merc, 48 Rosie, and 50 Deutscher German coin (not to familiar with foreign coins?) Also found 5 more wheaties throughout the hunt.

And among the other relics/bullets/casings I found a cool pipe that cleaned up great and the pieces still twist apart. Any info on it would be great too, looks pretty old!

--> I would appreciate any tips on cleaning the copper oxide off the silver especially, and a good way to make the indian and wheats look nice. I don't plan on selling but I do like them to look nice while retaining value/not being destroyed by cleaning. I usually use a 3% or 35% peroxide on coppers with a baking soda rub down, and just a light baking soda rub on silvers, but was looking for any better ways, again, especially on the silvers.

I'll post pictures of the cleaned coins once I decide which method to go with. Thanks for looking!

Happy Hunting

-Ted

[keverett]

Nice digs! Great looking pocket spills you got there. As far as the pipe.....well....its a stoner pipe....could date back to the 1960's but probably 70's or 80's. Still a nice take on the day!! Really like the '17 Merc and barber!! Congrats!

KEverett

[kimsdad]

WTG, Paul!!!

Congrats on a mighty fine day!

Two cool old spills! WOW!!!

[Al Czervik]

Mr. TreasureGuy25 ...

May I be as so kind to say that this post has literally brought tears of joy rolling down my face ...

To see such a fine example of one of the most rarest moments in a metal detectorist's life is truly a treat for the senses.

You sir have my highest esteem ...

Congratulations ~ Al

[Lowbatts]

I lost that pipe in 1977 on the way to see Skynyrd and REO.

Baking soda does clean silver nicely, but destroys any hint of silver luster and is easily spotted by anyone with a trained eye. Best thing for silver is hot water bath and a water pik. As far as copper goes, Mark (Watercolor) has posted some cleaning tips here and there on the forum and always presents very nicely done coins. Check out some of his old notes!

Great hunt, congrats!
Keep the pipe, at least until trash day....
I find a couple of those every year and they never make it back to the car if there's a garbage can around.

[treasurefiend]

Now thats what I dream about - 2 sweeeet pocket spill in one hunt!!!

[d-dub]

10 years ago, I would have taken that pipe and "dime" bag over those old coins any day.

Huhuhu, Sweet digs, man!

[Dirt fishing Wolf]

Sweet double pocket spill.

[dirtyJohn]

Congrats, looks like a great site. That pipe looks like something I distantly remember
HH
John
P.S That coin is german (50 pfennigs?) Worth about 25 cents when I lived in Germany in the 70's.

[MR Senior L4S]

NICE hunt , first pcs --GREAT --- CONGR!!!!

[p2c]

Great job Ted!
I am not sure what to say about cleaning those dimes. Obviously, having the copper oxide stuck on them detracts and lowers the value, so I don't think you'd do much to lower the value cleaning unless you do a really hack job. I am afraid something like electrolysis is out of the question because I'd only attract the CU particles to the silver.
IF the Cu2O is not on too hard, just try scotch tape. Stick it to the coin real well and pull off. Repeat a few times and see what you can get off.

If that does not work, you may want to try soaking in some sort of oil and very lightly pressing on the Cu2O with a toothpick, proceed slowly and gently. Or as others have suggested, baking soda.

Barber dime is nice, is that your first?

[AmericanCoinHunting]

Excellent Finds..Tho I don't know about a best way to clean the Greanies...

[marinedad]

wow ted that is a great day of detecting, i'm talking about the coins of course, i don't have any experience with the pipe, but have seen friends from high school days with them before.

[Pocket Spill]

That is a great group of coins! Congratulations!

[watercolor]

Awesome pocket spills!!

I agree with you. . . that copper oxide is brutal.

You might try some "naval jelly" (available from ACE Hardware) on the silver.
I haven't used it on silver. . . yet. . . but I have used it on gold and it's wonderful for eliminating that copper oxide.
It might be worth a try.

Take care,
mark

[TreasureGuy25]

wow ted that is a great day of detecting, i'm talking about the coins of course, i don't have any experience with the pipe, but have seen friends from high school days with them before.

Thanks Mark, hopefully we can get out sometime soon again!

[TreasureGuy25]

Great job Ted!
I am not sure what to say about cleaning those dimes. Obviously, having the copper oxide stuck on them detracts and lowers the value, so I don't think you'd do much to lower the value cleaning unless you do a really hack job. I am afraid something like electrolysis is out of the question because I'd only attract the CU particles to the silver.
IF the Cu2O is not on too hard, just try scotch tape. Stick it to the coin real well and pull off. Repeat a few times and see what you can get off.

If that does not work, you may want to try soaking in some sort of oil and very lightly pressing on the Cu2O with a toothpick, proceed slowly and gently. Or as others have suggested, baking soda.

Barber dime is nice, is that your first?

Thanks for the advice, tape worked pretty well! And yes that is my first barber, can't believe I pulled out a coin spill like that! I had figured coins like that were only found deep by the top of the line detectors, it was a rush!

[litefire56]

Hell, maybe I should got back to using my Ace 250

Sweet looking spill!!!