Cleaning Your Finds: Coins and Relics

[thrifty76now]

Very good article. Iwiil try the information on some of my buttons.

 

[coinman123]

Here's what I did to my silver thimble that came out slightly tarnished. First I put it in some warm lemon juice and added baking soda in a foil container, it reacts to make a form of electrolysis which cleans the silver.

 

[Graciegirl]

Very informative post. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Volodymyr4868]

1906 1912 1934 dog Lics?? What on Earth is that??

Vlad
A book or website about your antique stuff you are using to identify or any helpful info is much appreciated as already mentioned in the previous post.
Thanks!

 

[Volodymyr4868]

Can you be more specific as to what you mean by 1696 1774 1730s 17?? copper??

 

[eastcoastdetectorist]

Thanks so much for the information! About a week ago I found a copper coin that might be an IH penny (MY FIRST!). But it's too hard to see any details on it. Like you said, it's just too far gone!

 

[coinman123]

1906 1912 1934 dog Lics?? What on Earth is that??

Vlad
A book or website about your antique stuff you are using to identify or any helpful info is much appreciated as already mentioned in the previous post.
Thanks!

I didn't have room to add full words, so I did some abbreviations. Dog Lics. means Dog Licences. 1696, 1774, 1730's, and 17?? copper are the dates of some of the British Halfpennies that I have found. I tried to write it using the least letters I could use, as I was already at the limit for word count in signature. I can see how this may be hard for many people to understand though. I hope I helped, Thanks!

 

[coinman123]

Also, I recently published my third or forth article in W&E Treasures (less than a year ago), about cleaning and IDing colonial copper coins. I hope some of you checked it out!

 

[sawmill man]

Very interesting thread thanks for the bump up and thanks coinman 123

 

[JccEldreth]

Many thanks!

 

[Tnmountains]

FYI many items restored with pictures and procedures.
Cleaning & Preservation
You might want to post your results there as google search takes many people to this section.
Nice job!

 

[mrwilburino]

For cleaning nickles with hot sauce, ketchup, lemon juice, etc.. Without all the pitting:

The reason for the pitted appearance is because the crust coating the nickle wears down unevenly during the process. Take it out of the solution every half hour or so (depending on the strength of the solution), dry it off, and buff the heck out of it with a cloth. That takes off a fine layer of crust and smooths the surface out so it will continue to wear down evenly. Then put it back into the solution for another half hour. Repeat until you get it to where you want it.

Personally, I sort of prefer the crusty look. I like a dug coin to look like a dug coin.

 

[fistfulladirt]

Olive oil and mineral oil are acidic. Olive oil is the worst. You really want to soak your copper coin in acid?

 

[Jason in Enid]

Olive oil and mineral oil are acidic. Olive oil is the worst. You really want to soak your copper coin in acid?

Its not just the acid. The other compounds in it turn coppers brown

 

[fistfulladirt]

Its not just the acid. The other compounds in it turn coppers brown

So true. I soaked a crisp 2 center once, I thought it was the thing to do. Big mistake. Too dark to see any detail.

 

[dirtdigginfool]

Stubborn nickels? I was the happy recipient of a nice rock/coin tumbler for Father's Day this year...check these out. Overnite with a little bathroom cleaner and a teaspoon or so of play sand, then clean everything and run overnite with WD-40 and a couple ounces of bb's and a little car wash liquid soap. I actually wasn't trying to get them this nice, was actually my first stab at cleaning my dug clad. Ddf

 

[Eu_citzen]

My typical method for cleaning bronze/copper/brass stuff is below. Especially effective on cruddy coins.
I've yet to try the peroxide, will have to do that some day.

Preparations:
I make a saturated solution of ascorbic acid and water and put in a small spray bottle.
Also keep a small non-metallic bowl with (cold) water ready.

The cleaning:
Spray a little of the acid solution on the object to be cleaned, let it set a few seconds.

In the meanwhile prepare a small bowl of water and add the sodium bicarbonate, ½ a teaspoon maximum.
Stir it a bit and immediately add the coin to be cleaned. Keep on close eye on it, unless the object requires several cleanings, the process is quite quick.
Crud is usually removed in well below a minute. Once the bubbling stops, remove and rinse under running water.

Repeat as needed.

Word of warning: If left unattended, the solution can eat up a nice patina.

Examples below:


Before cleaning:


First round: (this thick crud needed 2 runs)

Results:

 

[Tpmetal]

oh man STOP USING OLIVE OIL ON COINS, never ever ever! the safest way is distilled water. If using something acidic you must neutralize like eu_citizen mentions. use microcrystaline wax to seal coin after thoroughly drying. Olive oil is a major no no, i have no idea how the idea got started that it was ok but its not. It is acidic and also goes rancid, and leads to bronze disease down the road. If you are unsure in any way soak 24 hours at a time in distilled water changing water daily. In between water changes lightly use the softest brush or tooth pick to VERY CAREFULLY remove crud as the mineralization dissolves in the Distilled water. If you know what your doing EU-citizen has a good method but as he said if your not careful you will ruin the patina.

 

[Eu_citzen]

oh man STOP USING OLIVE OIL ON COINS, never ever ever! the safest way is distilled water. If using something acidic you must neutralize like eu_citizen mentions. use microcrystaline wax to seal coin after thoroughly drying. Olive oil is a major no no, i have no idea how the idea got started that it was ok but its not. It is acidic and also goes rancid, and leads to bronze disease down the road. If you are unsure in any way soak 24 hours at a time in distilled water changing water daily. In between water changes lightly use the softest brush or tooth pick to VERY CAREFULLY remove crud as the mineralization dissolves in the Distilled water. If you know what your doing EU-citizen has a good method but as he said if your not careful you will ruin the patina.

Actually, the sodium bicarbonate serves 2 functions. As the dry crud is fairly absorbent, it absorbs the acid.
As the bicarbonate reacts with the acid, bubbles form, thus loosening or "blowing off" the crud. (at least in theory)

So the actual "bubbling" is part of the cleaning action. But yeah, it also neutralizes the acid, which avoids extra steps in cleaning.

I have a site which really eats everything copper-based, resulting in terribly worn coins.
This is so far the only method to produce satisfactory results regularly.

 

[Hal2k]

The best thing I have found for cleaning clad coins, pennies, nickels, dimes, quaters is about 1/2-1 oz of CLR, Dawn dishwashing soap, distilled water, and aquarium gravel. I place the mixure in a horizontal tumbler that I purchased from Harbor Feright, let them tumble for 2 to 3 hours coins come out looking great. Careful that you do not over load the tumbler, its quit easy to do with coins and gravel.