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 Replies: 15 / Views: 1,136 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1283 Posts |
I asked in another thread about cleaning copper, but I didn't have any photos of my 1851 Large Cent. You'll notice it has a hard greenish substance stuck in the date, and on the back there's mild corrosion. The dealer recommended letting it sit in olive oil for a good long while. Can this devalue the coin? What do you suggest?   |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7123 Posts |
Hi Paratrooper
The coin looks to me like it has already seen a cleaning I cant tell just when from the pic it could be an old cleaning ,,Olive oil is one method of attempting to remove unwanted trouble from copper.
My opinion is any type of cleaning devalues the coin to a degree, but so does corrosion and green stuff,, If it was mine I would give the extra extra virgin olive oil a shot.
Rick
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Forum Mom
 United States
5877 Posts |
I agree. I would try the olive oil.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1454 Posts |
And just remember, extra virgin olive oil, the best you can get if possible. Also, it won't take overnight or even a week. I check on mine weekly. Some have been in for a little over a month, others about 3 weeks. They were world junkers and so I took no chance value wise really. The ones I am soaking are worth maybe $1 total, yours however is worth approximately $60, more if it's an overdate, which I can't tell from your pics if it is though. After the soak I believe you dip it in acetone for a bit to get the oil off. Someone may want to correct me on that if I am wrong.
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
3831 Posts |
Again, I will have to disagree with the cleaning olive oil method. If it's really valuable, I will not do it. The first which I recommand is to remove most of the verdrigis if possible using a toothpick. Cleaned coins are actually much more perceptual to olive oil reaction. I will show my particular coin in a few mins - allow me time to photograph it.
My partial coin collection http://www.omnicoin.com/collection/gxseriesMy numismatics articles and collection: http://www.gxseries.com/numis/numis_index.htmRegularly updated at least once a month. |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
3831 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1283 Posts |
[quote]Originally posted by gxseries
This is the original coin that I took a couple of years ago:
Now it has become this:
Wow, GX, that is scary. I'm not sure what that coin is but it looks expensive. How long did you soak it?
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
3831 Posts |
If I remember right, the first week had almost no reaction. I got busier and totally left it alone for a good month or longer and when I found it, that's what I got.
I urge people to do some experiments before just blinding other people to do what they hear is good.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1283 Posts |
quote:
Originally posted by gxseries
If I remember right, the first week had almost no reaction. I got busier and totally left it alone for a good month or longer and when I found it, that's what I got.
I urge people to do some experiments before just blinding other people to do what they hear is good.
Is that Copper? |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
3831 Posts |
Yes, old Russian copper coin.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7123 Posts |
I urge people to do some experiments before just blinding other people to do what they hear is good.
[/quote]
GX
There is lots of experiance here !! now I'm sure that not everyone has used olive oil , but there are those who have,, I can tell you Ive never seen a reaction like you pictured but I would be interested to know what your method of removing the oil from the coin was ?
or are you saying that this coin reacted while soaking ?
olive oil has been and continues to be one of the methods used for gently cleaning ancients, and I have used it with differing results on my Lincoln cents, some have improved while others showed little or no improvement,
Rick
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Pillar of the Community
United States
590 Posts |
It seems the question of cleaning never gos away. Before I knew better I used a pencil eraser.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1283 Posts |
quote:
Originally posted by Irishraider
And just remember, extra virgin olive oil, the best you can get if possible.
What would define the best you can get? My wife bought some "extra virgin" olive oil from the Commissary. It's in a plastic bottle and reads Pilippo Berrio ExtraVirgin Olive Oil. It's the one shown here: http://www.filippoberio.com/Or does it matter so long as it's extra virgin? |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
1360 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
3831 Posts |
Metalman, the only exception that I can think of is that this coin was cleaned beforehand. However, it was throughly washed off with acetone and distilled water. This had almost zero effect on the verdigris and hence my decision to put it into olive oil.
The irony was, I did this experiment with other copper coins but in seperate containers. All of them had some kind of toned reaction, but this was the most spectular effect of all of them.
This might point down to the type of olive oil I used but I am sure I used extra virgin olive oil for them. Needless to say, I was quite devasted.
My partial coin collection http://www.omnicoin.com/collection/gxseriesMy numismatics articles and collection: http://www.gxseries.com/numis/numis_index.htmRegularly updated at least once a month. |
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New Member
United States
8 Posts |
You might want to have it professionally cleaned, since it is a good coin. Check out ncscoin.com. They offer a conservation service to address corrosion and other problems. Fees seem reasonable (3 % of coin's value for restoration, 1 % to evaluate, but the minimum fee is $15.00)
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Replies: 15 / Views: 1,136 |
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Posted 10/08/2006 10:22 am
