BEST WAY TO CLEAN DUG COPPER COINS

[ELVISFAN]

ANY IDEAS ON THE BEST WAY TO CLEAN COPPER COINS THAT ARE DUG OR BOTTONS...DAVE

 

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[UnEarthed72]

Give them a soak in olive oil 24hrs or so

seems to work well


Shawn

 

[BuckleBoy]

Well...It depends on what type of button your talking about...


For old copper coins, I recommend the peroxide method. Here's the link, with examples:

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

There is a link in that post to another topic on Tnet that tells you how to do it in detail.
Note: If you use olive oil first, then the peroxide won't work!

I do NOT recommend olive oil as a cleaning method. It seeps into the coin, then seeps out for years, creating a nasty, slick mess.

The result is even worse with buttons. Two piece dug buttons, such as Civil War buttons, can even fall apart due to being soaked in olive oil. I use a gentle toothpick cleaning with these to get them looking nice. I never put a button with any "plow damage" in water. It can literally fall apart. Here's an example or two of toothpicking:


A pre-Civil War Eagle Button that I toothpicked carefully:



And another (top left)



Any further questions, feel free to PM me.

Regards,


Buckleboy

 

[Eu_citzen]

I like to use 2/3 water and 1/3 of vinegar then let it soak until most of the oxides are removed easy then I use a metal polish (Mr muscle I think it was called) let it (metal polish) soak for 30 secs to 1 min depending on how much oxides are left and use a tooth brush or a piece of paper to give it some shine back.

Note!!! I use this for non valuables. Works with most coins after my experience.

Experiment with this these are only approx numbers it should cover the coin totally.

 

[Tin Nugget]

Well...It depends on what type of button your talking about...


For old copper coins, I recommend the peroxide method. Here's the link, with examples:

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

There is a link in that post to another topic on Tnet that tells you how to do it in detail.
Note: If you use olive oil first, then the peroxide won't work!

I do NOT recommend olive oil as a cleaning method. It seeps into the coin, then seeps out for years, creating a nasty, slick mess.

The result is even worse with buttons. Two piece dug buttons, such as Civil War buttons, can even fall apart due to being soaked in olive oil. I use a gentle toothpick cleaning with these to get them looking nice. I never put a button with any "plow damage" in water. It can literally fall apart. Here's an example or two of toothpicking:


A pre-Civil War Eagle Button that I toothpicked carefully:




And another (top left)




Any further questions, feel free to PM me.

Regards,


Buckleboy

Now you tell me. I have had a very cruddy 1865 two cent piece soaking in olive oil for 3 weeks now and while it is better it still needs help. If the peroxide method is no good after the olive oil, any other suggestions. Not to worried about value as it is pretty cruddy now.

 

[BuckleBoy]

Now you tell me. I have had a very cruddy 1865 two cent piece soaking in olive oil for 3 weeks now and while it is better it still needs help. If the peroxide method is no good after the olive oil, any other suggestions. Not to worried about value as it is pretty cruddy now.

I used to use olive oil. Now I use peroxide. Those were the two only cleaning methods for old copper coins that I'd ever had something even close to success with... I would say since you're committed to the oil now, you might as well let it sit and see if its condition improves. Sorry to say, I don't know of another method that doesn't do some sort of serious damage to a coin. Maybe someone else will post a suggestion for you. There are lots of creative ones in the "Cleaning and Preservation" threads. (One of the most interesting and creative was cleaning dug old nickels with Lime-Away ) I'd certainly be standing back from the fumes on that one! LOL.

-Buckles

 

[Eu_citzen]

Tin look at my post if you don't care to much, I have yet to find a badly corroded coin so do it at your own risk but I have not seen much damage on the coins after the process.
You will need to keep an eye at the coin to see how the oxides are getting removed when there only is a minimum oxide is left your go to the metal polish.
I have not seen much damage on any coin I've used this on, if you dare give it a try; my worst coin sat approx 10 minutes in the solution (2/3 water and 1/3 vinegar) it "works" slow and thus not to much damage should be done higher concentration can be used if you dare. The metal polish is to clean it a little extra as it contains a fine polishing compound or something like that. Tooth paste might work to at the last step.