My oldest coin ever. I feel so blessed haha. I believe this is what it is, found an image of a coin online that i think has the same date as well. The back is completely useless, the whole coin is greatly corroded. 27cm diameter, and heavy If anyone thinks its something else or has any suggestions for cleaning or ID'ing it would be much appreciated!
Yep. Found an 1856 the other day. Braided Hair Liberty Large Cent. Nice find.
Not much you can do. The coin is already pretty toastie. If you do anything maybe just a tooth pick to get a little bit of the grime out but be careful. You can easily take away the copper detail.
Coins are great because they come with a date. No guessing. That coin only circulated 2 years before they were withdrawn in favor of the smaller Flying Eagle cent. Gary
There are a lot of ways to clean old Copper Coins - here's a few ...
(1) - A safe but slow process - many people soak copper coins in Virgin Olive Oil for a few weeks or even up to a few months and use a tooth pick to remove the corrosion a little at a time.
(2) - Heating Peroxide in a microwave then dropping the coin in dissolves the crud - this process must be repeated multiple times and tends to turn the coin black.
(3) - A home made Electrolysis Bath will remove all the crud but it can also result in a loss of some detail on the coin - this process will also remove any of the green patina on the coin that many people find desirable.
As always, check the date on the coin before cleaning it to make sure it's not a key date and understand that you can't "undo" any type cleaning process.