My first Flying Eagle!

[cahills9]

1857. My big question

If I remove the green patina (which I know many folks love). Will the coin detail be clear or will it be ruined?

Thanks

Update. After all your kind and thoughtful insights………I will not be attempting to clean or improve. The risk of harm outweighs the benefits. appreciate all the input!!

 

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[Fentonian]

1857. My big question

If I remove the green patina (which I know many folks love). Will the coin detail be clear or will it be ruined?

Thanks

It’ll be gone, wiped clean, you will regret it…been there and made that dreadful Mistake, flying eagles are notorious for losing their details because of the metal they are made of

 

[NZ49er]

Congrats! Those are beautiful coins and hard to find

 

[ARC]

1857. My big question

If I remove the green patina (which I know many folks love). Will the coin detail be clear or will it be ruined?

Thanks

Wont know till ya do it.

I will say this... in this condition you should give it a try... and make sure to post the results here.

 

[scruggs]

Very nice coin!

 

[mikefromIllinois]

Congrats. Still one on my to find list.

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

Congrats on finding a "Rare Bird" !

Be careful !
When you clean the heavy green patina off a old copper coin - most or all of the coin's detail will be lost.

 

[MD Ghost F75]

1857. My big question

If I remove the green patina (which I know many folks love). Will the coin detail be clear or will it be ruined?

I’d leave it alone. Looks great the way it is. When you take off the crust it the detail will be gone and you’ll be left with a red coin with no detail.

 

[Relicific]

Nice find

 

[lenmac65]

1857. My big question

If I remove the green patina (which I know many folks love). Will the coin detail be clear or will it be ruined?

Thanks

That’s a tough coin to find. My guess is that a cleaning will remove any remaining detail. I don’t think I would chance it unless I had found a bunch of them. Congrats!

 

[iAmMike]

That's awesome! I hope to find one someday too.

 

[Silvermonkey]

I would DO NOTHING to your coin. Any further attempts at cleaning risks losing the details that exist. Not worth it.
Congrats on finding your flying eagle cent!

 

[miserman]

Don't clean it. The temptation to clean it will be strong, but from looking at your photo ,It is very likely you will loose most of the remaining detail.

 

[Rhapsody]

1857. My big question

If I remove the green patina (which I know many folks love). Will the coin detail be clear or will it be ruined?

Thanks

nice find, i vote noclean...brown copper is just ugly stuff in my book, green copper happy old patina!

 

[Capncrunch]

I don't think it will be great, even if you CAN successfully remove it- without destroying it. I don't see many dug FEs that look good. IF you do decide to try it, I'd 'bare-thumb' it, maybe on the reverse- to make it visible (unless you can already read it?), and stop just as soon as you can see any change- then reevaluate. Mine is holed, AND barely visible- it looks like the verdigris has protected yours.
Great find!

 

[JeffInMass]

Great job knocking that one off the bucket list-Congrats! I'd leave it as it is- Copper/nickel coins just don't get better when cleaned.

 

[Lenrac2]

Congrats on your awesome find! I'm on the no clean team.

 

[MD Ghost F75]

1857. My big question

If I remove the green patina (which I know many folks love). Will the coin detail be clear or will it be ruined?

Thanks

I also have only found 1 in 30 yrs of detecting and was extremely careful with it. As you can see with this coin, taking the dirt completely away would wash the coin out making it look like a blank coin Look at the word “States.” I took off too much in that spot and you can see what started to happen. Let us know what you decide and what the results were, but be careful! Nice find

 

[oldmxrat]

That's a great find, congrats!

 

[cahills9]

It’ll be gone, wiped clean, you will regret it…been there and made that dreadful Mistake, flying eagles are notorious for losing their details because of the metal they are made of

That’s what I needed to know. Thanks for the feedback


Here’s the update after many opinions offered. Will not be cleaning. Consensus is significant that I would likely do more harm than good. Appreciate all the feedback !