Massachusetts 1787 Copper Cent. Need help!

[Chestdiesel]

Hey guys, just found my oldest coin yet, and definitely one on my bucket list. Coin is trashed though and starting to pit. Will never sell it, if it's even worth anything? It's a 1787 Massachusetts state copper. And it's friggin badass lol. Anyways, really wanted some advice on the best way to enhance it's details, and preserve those said details, without doing any further damage to the coin. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys in advance. Cheers, and HH.

 

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[gheenoe78]

Awesome coin. I wouldnt do too much more to it. Maybe soak it in mineral oil and take a toothbrush or toothpick to it lightly. I think it looks great as it is though. Congrats!

 

[Chestdiesel]

Awesome coin. I wouldnt do too much more to it. Maybe soak it in mineral oil and take a toothbrush or toothpick to it lightly. I think it looks great as it is though. Congrats!

Is there any benefit to using mineral oil instead of olive oil do you know?? Thanks Again

 

[Vino]

Is there any benefit to using mineral oil instead of olive oil do you know?? Thanks Again

Great find.
And congrats on your first.
Yes, olive oil tends to darken the coin alot more then mineral oil.
George

 

[Ahab8]

Mineral oil is much more pure and won't darken the coin as much. For sure better than olive oil. Great coin. I have a very ugly Mass cent

 

[cjon455]

very cool coin, congrats on that!
be careful with olive oil
I darkened the heck out of one
of my DB LCs with it, you might
get lucky though, good luck!

 

[Loco-Digger]

Nice coin. Maybe, someday I might get into the 1700's club.

 

[70monte68]

Nice find

 

[thrifty76now]

Great dig you have unearthed there!!! Those are very-very hard to come by . Mineral water should be best. Many years ago I had dug a 1787 Vermont one , which was quite toasted .It was found in Ohio. I wish I could post pictures of some of my treasures like most of you all can I HAVE BEEN DETECTING SINCE THE THE 1970 'S.

 

[Erving]

In that condition I wouldn't try to clean it at all. If you do, you might loose the detail you have. I would just seal it with Renassance wax, and be happy with the way it is. Nice find BTW.

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

In that condition I wouldn't try to clean it at all. If you do, you might loose the detail you have. I would just seal it with Renassance wax, and be happy with the way it is. Nice find BTW.

I have not been all that impressed with Renaissance Wax as it seems to quickly dry out and looks like it was never applied. And I don't care for olive or mineral oil as they both darken way too much. Vaseline seems to work fairly good, but the absolutely best product out there is Blue Ribbon Coin Cleaner. But it went out of production almost 20 years ago due to it containing CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons). I lucked out and managed to find a bottle for sale on ebay a few months ago and I paid dearly for it, but its worth every penny as far as I'm concerned. And then there's also the warm hydrogen peroxide method but I haven't been pleased with that either. And of course, there's always the status quo option. Whatever you decide, I highly recommend you experiment first on some cruddy coppers that you don't care about and go from there. Good luck!

 

[PeteWmass]

Ive been using cooking spray oil lately - works good - or even WD-40 - it doesn't gum up any remaining dirt/etc on the coin - the spray actually cleans the coin off to some extent - otherwise - I wouldn't mess with the patina - just keep spraying it and the flaking will stop.....

 

[deershed]

Sweet cooper!!

Every time I try to clean an old copper it ends up worse looking and I usually lose the detail I had, I'd let it as it is.

 

[Scrappy]

Oh boy! A Copper cleaning thread!!!! Lol.

I hate using oil because like Bill says it darkens the coins. I use mineral oil like Abe and Vino says since it darkens less. It's a crapshoot on "to clean or not to clean".

I always remind myself a mantra i came up with.

"You know what you've got, you don't know what you're going to end up with"

Now if I can just stick to that.....


Anyways, congrats on a state copper. I have found a few dozen coppers but never a state.

Steve

 

[Steve in PA]

Congrats on a nice state copper. I would love to dig one of those. The Vermont's and the Connecticut's made it out to western PA, but I have never seen a MA dug out this way. And by the way, it looks better than 80% of the coppers I dig (LOL).

 

[CMDiamonddawg]

Great Mass coppa , ya seldom hear about on being dug in Jersey


dawg

 

[huntsman53]

Is there any benefit to using mineral oil instead of olive oil do you know?? Thanks Again

Great find.
And congrats on your first.
Yes, olive oil tends to darken the coin alot more then mineral oil.
George

To add a little more to this. Extra Virgin Olive Oil has a slight acidity to it which aids in loosening dirt, grime, gunk and encrustations from coins while Mineral Oil does not and only lubricates the coin to protect it. If a person is worried about the darkening effect that Extra Virgin Olive Oil has on Copper coins, then it would be best to only soak a coin in it for a short duration of a few days up to a week. Then once the dirt, grime, gunk and encrustations have been removed as best they can be removed, rinse the coin in water, pat dry with a towel and then transfer it into a Mineral Oil bath/soak. However, before any of this, the coin should be bathed in Acetone to arrest (stop) the verdigris from continuing to grow on the coin's metal which can do further damage. After the Acetone bath, rinse with water, pat dry, then immediately place it in Extra Virgin Olive Oil to soak or if you do not wish to use Extra Virgin Olive Oil, then place it in a Mineral Oil to soak.


Frank

 

[Chestdiesel]

To add a little more to this. Extra Virgin Olive Oil has a slight acidity to it which aids in loosening dirt, grime, gunk and encrustations from coins while Mineral Oil does not and only lubricates the coin to protect it. If a person is worried about the darkening effect that Extra Virgin Olive Oil has on Copper coins, then it would be best to only soak a coin in it for a short duration of a few days up to a week. Then once the dirt, grime, gunk and encrustations have been removed as best they can be removed, rinse the coin in water, pat dry with a towel and then transfer it into a Mineral Oil bath/soak. However, before any of this, the coin should be bathed in Acetone to arrest (stop) the verdigris from continuing to grow on the coin's metal which can do further damage. After the Acetone bath, rinse with water, pat dry, then immediately place it in Extra Virgin Olive Oil to soak or if you do not wish to use Extra Virgin Olive Oil, then place it in a Mineral Oil to soak.


Frank

Awesome. any advice on what type of acetone to use? Would really appreciate it. Thanks.

 

[huntsman53]

Awesome. any advice on what type of acetone to use? Would really appreciate it. Thanks.

I use the Acetone in the Paint Department at Walmart and Lowe's. The Pure Acetone sold in the Nail Polish section at Walmart which is cheaper and will probably also work. Which ever one you get, just make sure that it does not have any additives in the Acetone such as normal Nail Polisher Remover which has perfumes and possibly other additives in it.

Rust-Oleum Auto Acetone, 1 Quart - Walmart.com

Shop Jasco Quart Size Can Fast to Dissolve Acetone (Actual Net Contents: 32-fl oz) at Lowes.com

http://www.walmart.com/ip/ONYX-Professionals-100-Pure-Acetone-Nail-Polish-Remover-16-fl-oz/11047134


Frank

 

[Chestdiesel]

Awesome. Thanks Frank, and everybody else as well for your input. I agree with the EVOO method. I used it on my 1855 Half Cent that was completely trashed, could barely recognize it. The olive oil definitely ate away the corrosion so that all the details are back on the coin. Which is pretty amazing. But it's REALLY dark green. You have to tilt it in the light to see it. So it's definitely a catch 22. I'm thinking acetone, short Olive Oil bath (couple days maybe?) then I'm gonna soak it in the mineral oil. Wish me luck. Cheers.