The 1829 Large Cent I decided not to clean.

[Silver Dollar]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions on how to clean a large cent. I decided not to clean it at this time. Went to a new site on Sunday that I've been waiting for the corn to be cut. Was lucky and found this 1829 Large Cent and a couple of buttons. Yes I was doing the happy dance after I found it, oldest coin I have to date. I hope I can get the picturers on here.

Thanks for looking.
Jim

 

[Ed-NH]

Congrats on a nice copper!

 

[renegade_7]

Wow, nice looking large. Imagine thats one I will never find...

 

[Don in SJ]

Jim, your coin is clear enough to be identified by variety, there are nine (9) varieties of 1829 Large Cents and yours is a Newcomb 1 variety.

http://www.coinfacts.com/large_cent...829_large_cents/1829_large_cent_varieties.htm

Don

 

[Skrimpy]

To clean or not to clean?!?! The ONLY thing to do is clean the coin, but what you don't want to do is "CLEAN" the coin. Let me explain. Don is right, if the coin is already corroded you can't hurt it by "cleaning" it. The damage is done. The only thing you can do is preserve what is left. If the coin is in tact but dirty, cleaning the soil, and only the soil off, is very appropriate. What you DO NOT want to do is make the coin "shiny", or "CLEAN". If it's got a nice green or copper color patina LEAVE IT ALONE! Do not remove that patina! Just get the dirt, soil, or sap off. The patina is protecting that coin from corrosion. All you want to remove is the dirt. Any scratch you make in that surface could take away the value of the coin which is why I would use a VERY soft toothbrush, because even that will scratch the coin. Your coin appears to me that it has a very nice patina. I like them a little bit better when they are dark green but a patina you have none the less...which is why the coin is preserved so well. The first thing I would try to do with it is sonicate the thing in water or olive oil. Then soft bristle toothbrush and olive oil or hot distilled water and soap.

 

[diamondjim]

Just to clarify...when I talk about cleaning, I'm reffering to chemical treatments. I do mild soap and warm water wash my coins to check date any variety. The chemical treatments are permnant changes and should be considered thoughtfully over time.

I have one particular copper in my collection that's solid black. I scrubbed just enough to pull up the date of 1828 and left the coin as is, it is simply that far gone. Poor thing got trapped on a tree root and spent 180 years just 1 inch under the soil...the water and air simply ravaged it. Now I look at that coin with a kind of admiration...what a trooper.

This 1829 is a nice one, it may benefit from an experenced hand at cleaning...but it is simply too easy to destroy a nice old copper. I've done it myself, gotten all excited and rushed the job...turning old coppers bright pink or whatever. My vote would be to simply wash the dirt off, stablize it's condition with a soak in distilled water and then leave it be...if someday down the road you find you're still unhappy with the look of the coin then have at it.

 

[West Jersey Detecting]

Nice dig!

 

[TN-Joe]

VERY nice coin.
Congrad's on a great find.
Joe

 

[Joe G]

To those who clean and say they lost detail, well that was because the coin was toast to begin with and the dirt was just holding the original impressions together, and the corrosion underneath the lettering and design will go bye bye, but it was not the cleaning that destroyed the coin, it was already destroyed by the corrosion.
Don

Couldn't agree with you more... I've only gotten 4 or 5 LC's but all of them were basically toast. They looked like they had good detail but in reality, the only detail was corrosion. A quick look under a loop and you can see how bad it is. Now, I just gently wash the dirt away... The LC found in this post looks to be in pretty darn good condition. Now that one I would probably clean.

 

[Michigan Badger]

Great finds there bud!

As for cleaning coins, most of the time it makes them worse. That aged patina makes the piece a one-of-a-kind work of art.

Badger

 

[pgill]

My vote would be to simply wash the dirt off, stablize it's condition with a soak in distilled water and then leave it be...if someday down the road you find you're still unhappy with the look of the coin then have at it.

I agree 100% with this method and no more..... Even a collector likes to see the coin that he has. I personally would not buy a coin that I could not see nicely. Remember that even a small amount of dirt can hide scratches and so on.

God bless
Peter