Ugly!!!! But beautiful to me

[Ahab8]

So this is my third time out since I bought a new T2 SE. Before that it was 15 years ago since I dug in the dirt. My oldest coin was a 1910 dime
until this morning. Had about an hour and a half to hit an old foundation for the second time. Found this (I believe) 1920 large cent. I know it looks terrible but it's cool to best my oldest coin by 90 years. Found a toasted ring and busted up spoon as well. Headed back tomorrow. Can't wait!

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A Handbook of Civil War Bullets and Cartridges - Grab it through Amazon!

[Ahab8]

I'm sorry 1820

 

[oddrod]

Congrats, sent that record our for a cleaning.

 

[DrJoePrime]

Great Find! Congrats!

AND Not ugly at all.

I too restarted detecting ... but a bit longer hiatus... 37 years for me (1970 to 2007) but since 2007 have been getting out there almost every day.

 

[pepperj]

It's a great feeling to still have the passion to dig in the dirt after a long hiatus. Congrats on the nice looking copper, a little soaking in HP might bring out the details well.

 

[Ahab8]

Thanks guys I hit it twice with the hp. I'm gonna try it again. How do you get the dry crusty look off the coin after it soaks? First time, thanks in advance guys

 

[pepperj]

How long did you let it soak?

 

[Fingerlakes119]

Great find!

 

[Ahab8]

Prob 30-40 seconds twice now. Any advice is very much appreciated

 

[Msbeepbeep]

That a great find! Looks a lot better than the one I found, can't read the date on mine. Where there's one maybe more. Congrats!

 

[CASPER-2]

 

[Stripeythecrab]

Nice find! I've heard some people clean up coins with olive oil. I've gotten a lot of really good info about cleaning coins at this website: MetalDetectingWorld.com Cleaning & Preservation of Coins - A Complete Guide

Good luck!

 

[Ahab8]

Hey thanks a lot for the info. Hopefully I will be cleaning some silver or gold tomorrow. :-) this is the progress I made with the peroxide. But now the coin looks dried out and crusty and I would like to find something to make it look a little better. Thank you for all replies. Maybe the olive oil would take that dry look away but I don't want to darken it too much

 

[Ahab8]

Has anybody used the Vitrinol Copper Soap on a copper coin?

 

[Indian Steve]

Be careful! You can ruin a coin so easily by cleaning. Wait for advice from some of the people on here that know a lot more than me before doing too much. steve

 

[Ahab8]

Hey Steve,
Yeah this baby was super toasted and I had to give it a peroxide bath just to be able to identify it. I haven't done anything else to it and I'm hoping to get some ideas from the veterans on here on how to make it look a bit better. But like you I'm scared to do much as I'm not very experienced. This is only my third time out

 

[jewelerguy]

cool large

 

[WHADIFIND]

Nope. That's one word that just cannot go with that find! "ugly". A most beautiful site to uncover!

WTG!

 

[mangum]

Ugly? Nope! I've heard the HP method works good on the large cents, I've had no luck with it on IHs etc. Did you use water on it at first? That could be the issue... I advise to never use water on copper coins, only a toothpick. I think the HP is safe but not water. As far as the dried out look - I've had very good success using regular old chapstick on coins & relics that look dried out (pretty much beeswax). This also works great on some buttons. I did this to a KGII copper I found years ago & it brings a lot of the detail back. I would recommend to look up Buckleboy's cleaning guides - very useful & I trust what he says. I pretty much use his posts as my guide.

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/cleaning-preservation/22115-cleaning-large-cents.html

 

[Ahab8]

Magnum I can't thank you enough for taking the time to give me some great advice. I'm pretty serious about everything I do and I dive in full force. I want to do things right and am not afraid to ask the people with experience. This was only my third trip out after a 15 year hiatus so I'm pretty new. Hopefully tomorrow I will be showing something else. I've found a civil war heel plate, a silver spoon, a ring, and the 1820 large in a total of about 3 hours at this site. So I'm very encouraged. And it's a huge site. Thanks sgain