methods of cleaning coins...

[rosevelt]

Hi everyone, i'm still waiting to go for my first hunt of the year. So i thought cleaning coins would help. I have a few old copper coins i would like to clean. I have heard of many ways of cleaning copper but i forget them all. I would love it if you guys could post how you clean your copper coins? I would like to try the method with the olive oil. any methods would be helpful thanks!!!!!!!!

Happy Hunting

 

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[AgileMJOLNIR]

What kinds of coins are we talking exactly?

 

[rosevelt]

like old copper pennys, wheat pennys, indians, large cents.

 

[coinking]

Hi! A very nice guy steered me to this web site, and it's the best I've found:

http://scotvscapitis.blogspot.com/2006/10/step-by-step-cleaning-and-attributing.html

The diamond dental picks take some getting used to, but are well worth the price. I will never, ever again use olive oil!!!!

 

[BuckleBoy]

Everything you need to know about copper coin cleaning, courtesy of DonSJ and yours truly:

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,39135.0.html

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,117293.0.html


-Buckleboy

 

[smhead]

Hi! A very nice guy steered me to this web site, and it's the best I've found:

http://scotvscapitis.blogspot.com/2006/10/step-by-step-cleaning-and-attributing.html

The diamond dental picks take some getting used to, but are well worth the price. I will never, ever again use olive oil!!!!

Hey, that's MY site! Thanks for the link to it.

Yes, distilled water and diamond dusted dental picks are useful for corrosion, but on bare discolored and toned copper, the dental picks can easily mar the surface. I'd suggest the soak and brush method first, then escalate the intensity of tools if it doesn't work.

rosevelt, what kind of condition are your coins? I mainly deal with ancients so my coins are usually pretty cruddy and corroded and have a cement-like layer of clay and gravel on them mixed in with cupric corrosion.

Electrolysis can be useful for some coins in very narrow circumstances, but for a coin with real numismatic value I wouldn't dare.