To clean or not to clean...

[cti4sw]

...that is the question! Where do y'all draw the line? I know you shouldn't clean coins, but what about artifacts and relics? If you clean enough to identify/"conserve", why not go the rest of the way?

 

[pa plateau hiker]

All the iron relics I find are from the late 1800's-early 1900's. Nothing valuable, so everything gets cleaned and preserved.

 

[Dwight S]

With relics, basic cleaning is the norm. Get the dirt off, preserve it and call it a day. A few will send some of their relics out for restoration, but I personally wouldn't. I prefer to leave it as it was dug, just cleaned.