Please tell me im not the only idiot who destroys my finds

[MissIron.Maiden]

What's the first thing I do when I find a decent old coin? I destroy it... Uuuhhggggg. I get all excited and think that if I just remove enough crud to see it more clearly... Next thing you know I lose the date n details. Luckily it hasn't been coins worth anything, but they are my special find. Today I found a 1910 penny n with ketchup made it a turquoise mess. So I thought if I use soap n water n just scrub alittle.. Nope.. If I just do a quick electrolysis dip.. Then yeah I can totally destroy it. I did this with a silver 1800's coin before to:/ and some others .
So I stop doing this to my coins , what is the proper protocol , so that you can make the details clear enough to try to reAd it .

 

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[cosmic]

LOOOONG soak in distilled water and a soft make-up brush.. Or I use instant potatoes and check often and use the soft brush until you like it...

 

[TerryC]

How about finding my ONLY silver dollar... 1888.... in perfect condition EXCEPT a digger gouge right across the obverse! OUCH! TTC

 

[BuffaloBob]

What's the first thing I do when I find a decent old coin? I destroy it... Uuuhhggggg. I get all excited and think that if I just remove enough crud to see it more clearly... Next thing you know I lose the date n details. Luckily it hasn't been coins worth anything, but they are my special find. Today I found a 1910 penny n with ketchup made it a turquoise mess. So I thought if I use soap n water n just scrub alittle.. Nope.. If I just do a quick electrolysis dip.. Then yeah I can totally destroy it. I did this with a silver 1800's coin before to:/ and some others .
So I stop doing this to my coins , what is the proper protocol , so that you can make the details clear enough to try to reAd it .

Everyone has done that. The team searching for Jesse James treasure found a Gold coin. I think in a mason jar they broke while digging. Then with camera rolling, the coin covered in sand, the guy rubs it clean. Rubbing sand on a nice gold coin to see the date. Geez.... probably degraded the coin by a lot.

MM even experts can't know everything. I mostly find iron so cleaning isn't a big deal with me. But researching how to clean all depends. How clean is good enough. What is too much. And for me, so what. It's my coin and I like it the way it is. Local coin dealer want's it as-is. My friends tumble their coins. Display your coins and no one will have a clue about how it looks. Instead they will want to go on a hunt with you! Good job MM

 

[Kagain123]

I will use the hot peroxide method on wheats and other 20th century copper coins. Silver usually comes out rather nice (though I like the black look on em sometimes)

 

[SusanMN]

Been there, done that. Most of the time these coins are really destroyed by corrosion whether I clean them or not, so I only do it when it gives me a chance at reading a date. Otherwise, I just leave them alone.

 

[MissIron.Maiden]

Everyone has done that. The team searching for Jesse James treasure found a Gold coin. I think in a mason jar they broke while digging. Then with camera rolling, the coin covered in sand, the guy rubs it clean. Rubbing sand on a nice gold coin to see the date. Geez.... probably degraded the coin by a lot. MM even experts can't know everything. I mostly find iron so cleaning isn't a big deal with me. But researching how to clean all depends. How clean is good enough. What is too much. And for me, so what. It's my coin and I like it the way it is. Local coin dealer want's it as-is. My friends tumble their coins. Display your coins and no one will have a clue about how it looks. Instead they will want to go on a hunt with you! Good job MM

Do you purposely look for old iron? A lot if time people avoid it, it's what I like the best

 

[MissIron.Maiden]

I will use the hot peroxide method on wheats and other 20th century copper coins. Silver usually comes out rather nice (though I like the black look on em sometimes)

Hot peroxide ? Never heard that. Ketchup on my copper just turns it awful

 

[Massieville Mike]

Over cleaned more than a few coins myself! Fortunately not any key dates/mint marks! Have found hot peroxide to be a very mild/gentle way to get rid of dirt and light corrosion. I heat some peroxide in a small glass container (more times than not, about 30-45 seconds in the microwave, never more than 1 minute) then drop in the coin, and after it stops "bubbling" or gets cold, or both, I give it a light brushing with a soft or medium bristle toothbrush under running water. I dry with a soft cloth, then soak in virgin olive oil for quite some time (I have let some set in olive oil for weeks). When coin is removed from the olive oil, I rub excess oil off with a soft cloth. This seems to work well for me. I agree with SuzanMN, some coins are just bad to begin with from corrosion, and sometimes cleaning (especially anything harsh) just makes them worse. HH

 

[CoilyGirl]

Hey there,long time no see. Try a little nose grease (I'm serious) to bring out the details in that coin. Silver usually requires nothing ,sometimes the coins have great detail,other times not. I have a half bald headed 1916 Mercury dime but she is my oldest coin to date.

 

[GatorBoy]

I just wanna say you're not alone and the reason why ketchup ruined your copper is because it's the acid in ketchup that does the work... acid and copper do not do well together.

 

[airscapes]

Hot peroxide ? Never heard that. Ketchup on my copper just turns it awful

Hot peroxide on a bronze indian head works really well.
Heat it in a popuri heater drop in the coin, wait about 5 minutes and gently scratch off the crud with a toothpick, repeat till clean. Wash with water, soak in water over night, and coat with vaseline.

 

[TerryC]

Do you purposely look for old iron? A lot if time people avoid it, it's what I like the best

People that avoid iron really don't have a CLUE as to what potential is under their feet! This is mostly found in the "clad clowns" that only want to see "numbers" in their coin purse. Iron (old rusty stuff) means old settlements, activity, or dump locations. Case in point... I hunted an old road across a lady friend's 80 acres in CA. I found two horse shoes and one mule shoe. These are iron, of course. Junk to some, relics to others. I then found a chimney "stack" (iron tube). I "backed off" to realize that the clearing was an old settlement cleared for old homes. A check with locals found the road to be used during the "Rush" days. I found the perimeter of at least two homes. One was so "hidden" in the grass, I didn't see it till I cut the grass. (cutting the grass at old sites means add a weedeater to your relic hunting tools) That homestead produced 4 long nails , all bent in exactly the same way. They were used to hang hides in the doorway to keep out the cold (no doors). That home had a grave nearby. A small one. Possibly a child's. Just up the hill from it I found metal fencing forming a small corral. I found a calf weaning collar there. LOTS of poison oak there so no more fooling around up there! There are real GOOD reasons to be looking for iron. (Ouch, my two typing fingers are blistered) TTC

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

Nope!...My dumbazzz soaked a coin in Lemon Juice before...didnt even look like a coin when I got it out like 3 days later..Now I use Olive oil, it works WAAAAAY better than I would ever expect

 

[aliciakay1981]

Im no expert by no means, but if its old and looks to be a key date it goes in olive oil, soak for a few months then wipe off with a soft towel ( like u already read) i do alot of fresh water huntings so the silver i find is completely black and crusty i use foil and baking soda boiling to get the tarnish off, then mother's metal polish( hey its my treasure and i like it shiney : ).... common wheats go in the rock tumbler with fishtank gravel before they join their brothern in an old atlas mason jar thats my method may not be used by the smithsonian but it works for me.

 

[redcobra8u]

Been there and done that too. Have not had bad luck with electrolosis at all? Are you using something other than a 9v source? I've nicked a ring or 2 with the scoop....even broke a 10k ring and lost half of it...with the detector in hand.

 

[MissIron.Maiden]

People that avoid iron really don't have a CLUE as to what potential is under their feet! This is mostly found in the "clad clowns" that only want to see "numbers" in their coin purse. Iron (old rusty stuff) means old settlements, activity, or dump locations. Case in point... I hunted an old road across a lady friend's 80 acres in CA. I found two horse shoes and one mule shoe. These are iron, of course. Junk to some, relics to others. I then found a chimney "stack" (iron tube). I "backed off" to realize that the clearing was an old settlement cleared for old homes. A check with locals found the road to be used during the "Rush" days. I found the perimeter of at least two homes. One was so "hidden" in the grass, I didn't see it till I cut the grass. (cutting the grass at old sites means add a weedeater to your relic hunting tools) That homestead produced 4 long nails , all bent in exactly the same way. They were used to hang hides in the doorway to keep out the cold (no doors). That home had a grave nearby. A small one. Possibly a child's. Just up the hill from it I found metal fencing forming a small corral. I found a calf weaning collar there. LOTS of poison oak there so no more fooling around up there! There are real GOOD reasons to be looking for iron. (Ouch, my two typing fingers are blistered) TTC

I usually start with the coin range at a new site but quickly bore of not seeing that orange dirt that surrounds iron. A coin kinda just flicks out the ground, but I find nothing more exciting than see a but of some heavy hand forged iron n having to carefully pick around it , trying to figure out what it's gonna be.

 

[MissIron.Maiden]

Hey there,long time no see. Try a little nose grease (I'm serious) to bring out the details in that coin. Silver usually requires nothing ,sometimes the coins have great detail,other times not. I have a half bald headed 1916 Mercury dime but she is my oldest coin to date.

Hi Coily! I've licked the coins( after I look around to make sure nobody is gonna see me !) to try to see the date , but never rubbed my nose on one... Yet! Lol. You mean actually the grease from your nose? I think I got more on my forehead ...

 

[MissIron.Maiden]

After reading thread , I went back to my old coins I thought I destroyed ... And some thick black oily crust had built up on this 1883 coin.. Some sort of tarnish from something that I had put in it. It pushed it off and it came out clearer than when I found it last year




And with alittle oil

 

[TerryC]

MissIron.... Please take the ring off as it looks like it is about to fall off. You will find MANY rings. No sense in letting some one find YOURS! TTC