Need Advice on Colonial Coin

[Lost Signal]

Found this KG3 last weekend. I think it's 1776. The coin has some good detail, but you can see that the outer patinaed layer is flaking away around the rim. Is there anything that I can do to stabilize it? There's no monetary value, so I'm not worried about messing up its "collectibility." I just want to stop it from disintegrating. Thanks.

 

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[oldmxrat]

Nice recovery, congrats!
I've been using Paraloid for years for conserving bone and shell artifacts (learned about it from a museum conservator) and just recently started using it on some metal objects like this token that was about to disintegrate. It works amazingly and it's hard to even tell it's been treated. No wonder the museums use it.

 

[paleomaxx]

Hate it when that starts to happen. Renaissance wax can help if the patina just needs a slight amount of added stability. It has the benefit of drying clear and not changing the contrast between the dirt and the patina, but it can still flake in some cases.

Are you sure it's a 1776? Looks like 1775 and if so the reverse is wrong for a regal issue so it could be one of the various contemporary counterfeits which is always cool to see!

 

[Lost Signal]

Hate it when that starts to happen. Renaissance wax can help if the patina just needs a slight amount of added stability. It has the benefit of drying clear and not changing the contrast between the dirt and the patina, but it can still flake in some cases.

Are you sure it's a 1776? Looks like 1775 and if so the reverse is wrong for a regal issue so it could be one of the various contemporary counterfeits which is always cool to see!

Thank you to you and oldmxrat. I've got Renaissance wax, so I'll try that.

The date could easily be 1775. It's difficult to say. I actually couldn't find an example of a 1776 that wasn't a counterfeit. Were they made?

I did notice that the reverse did not match other examples that I looked at online. There's much more space between the A and the N in BRITAN and there's a lot of space between the N and the twig in Britannia's hand.

 

[smokeythecat]

The wax is ok, but I do a mixture of 50% Elmer's glue and 50% water. Brush it on and let dry.

 

[Digger RJ]

Found this KG3 last weekend. I think it's 1776. The coin has some good detail, but you can see that the outer patinaed layer is flaking away around the rim. Is there anything that I can do to stabilize it? There's no monetary value, so I'm not worried about messing up its "collectibility." I just want to stop it from disintegrating. Thanks. View attachment 1986165 View attachment 1986166

Very Nice!! Congrats!!

 

[Red-Coat]

Are you sure it's a 1776? Looks like 1775 and if so the reverse is wrong for a regal issue so it could be one of the various contemporary counterfeits which is always cool to see!

The date could easily be 1775. It's difficult to say. I actually couldn't find an example of a 1776 that wasn't a counterfeit. Were they made?

I did notice that the reverse did not match other examples that I looked at online. There's much more space between the A and the N in BRITAN and there's a lot of space between the N and the twig in Britannia's hand.

Yes, there are a number of stylistic variations which indicate it to be a contemporary counterfeit, rather than a regal issue. It's not so much that it doesn't match a 1776 regal issue since there weren't any. After 1775, regal issues of halfpennies didn't resume until the Soho mint issues of 1799 and then 1806/7, both of which have very different designs.

Good find nevertheless.

 

[Almy]

Nice coin. It's amazing to me how widely distributed these are in eastern North America. I enjoy finding one. The ones I have found, like yours, have had lots of experiences with people, judging by their wear!

 

[smokeythecat]

Yes, they are everywhere and they are nowhere. Sometimes we'd find a few in a day, and then a large dry spell.

 

[Lost Signal]

The wax is ok, but I do a mixture of 50% Elmer's glue and 50% water. Brush it on and let dry.

Okay. I wondered about that. I've been using that mixture on pewter objects, but had never heard of it used on copper. It makes sense. Thanks.

 

[hogge]

Coin is 1775 CFT. If you mess with it it WILL disintegrate. Best is to seal it with what these guys suggested. Take it from experience. Some coins.....even with the peroxide bath I use.......lose a lot of detail when you mess with them. It's your coin, but the advice from these guys should be taken.

 

[Shakakka]

One more bit of advice: after you've waxxed/glued it or whatever to preserve it, make sure you put it in a SECURE case. I have a Connecticut Copper that's flaking just like this one, I put Renn Wax on it and put it in a snap-tite that was probably 1mm too big. Just that TINY amount of rattle-room was enough to make the coin continue to flake as I handled it, whereas if it was more snugly positioned that might not have happened.

Nice coin!