A New Coin Cleaning Project. 1803 Large Cent

Also late to the thread, but super invested now! The coin is looking really great. Well done!

been a bit since I updated here. here is what the coin look like today:




its starting to have a decent contrast.

@adam - I havent really used too many chemicals on this. mostly just xylene and manual removal of gack. the recoloring has been done without chemicals.

i did play around with dellers darkener during this process. it isn't a product that I see myself using much in the future. I wasnt happy with the results I was getting.

Carrs, I've been following your thread documenting the restoration of this 1803 Large Cent. You have done an AMAZING job with it!
Thank you for demonstrating and explaining how a coin can be rescued.

That looks fantastic!

I've been looking for a nice draped bust restoration project myself, been encouraged by your results.

She looks fabulous now!

That's an outstanding transformation from what you started with!

I am also curious. Seems very similar to me. Let's see who steps up to the plate.

http://goccf.com/t/459277

I have watched both these threads with interest. I know CarrsCoins; we are members of the same local club. And I know jacrispies, who is earnest and passionate about coins. I firmly believe that neither of them is trying to "fool someone" and by doing so, make a profit.

They are "messing with" coins - but hasn't every single coin been "messed with?" From the moment of their creation, we slide them down conveyor belts, drop them into bags, roll them up with machines, flip them, drop them to hear their silver content. There are mint-sealed proof coins with fingerprints on them. Even when someone decides to "put one up" for safekeeping, they end up in varied environments: this one lives on the coast, that one lives in the desert. We put them in fireproof safes imbued with flame retardant moisture-bearing chemicals. Some environmental changes are gradual and others are concentrated. Some are intentional and others are accidental. But the common denominator is us humans. Even a detectorist's "ground find" that was eaten away in the earth had to have been dropped by someone!

I submit that the difference between the coin doctors who whizz, polish, smooth, fill, and wipe, and the conservationists who restore the underlying beauty of a coin can be summed up in one word: Reverence.

I'll go one further: the practice of dipping is widely accepted. But it is an attack on the surface of a coin, destroying the metal's natural defenses (i.e., toning) and is far more harmful - and generally less attractive - than trying to expedite in a few months what nature was probably going to do over time anyway.

I appreciate both CarrsCoins and Jacrispies' posts, have learned from their experiments, and hope that they (and others) are not silenced by disapproval of some. I find them to be reverent.