Cleaning a token

treasurehound · May 31, 2010

This weekend I made a trip to Kansas and found a very small token. The only thing that I can make out is KANSAS and Taxi Token and the number 2 on the side. I think it is made of aluminum or some light alloy and is very corroded. Any ideas on how to remove or is it a lost cause?

Iron Patch · Jun 1, 2010

If it has the pitted or bubbled look it might be lost, but if just discolored maybe a chance.

treasurehound · Jun 2, 2010

Iron Patch said:
If it has the pitted or bubbled look it might be lost, but if just discolored maybe a chance.

Thanks. I got one side cleaned pretty good but the other side I think is too corroded.

Minrelica · Sep 14, 2010

I haven't posted them yet but I just got done cleaning 2 tokens that I thought for sure were "gone".

I started with a hot peroxide soak, probably 6-8 times at about 15-20 minutes per session and scrubbing them with a soft tooth brush in between. This started to bring out some of the detail but I needed something stronger so I used electrolysis and now they look much better.

This exactly what I did. I hope this helps.
http://gometaldetecting.com/electrolysis_cleaning.htm