First Restoration Attempt. How Did I Do?

I see it this way: If somehow I accidentally got a drop of melted butter on a coin, removing the butter is not going to make a "numismatically" cleaned coin if I simply put some warm water & mild detergent, to cut the grease, on the coin to remove the butter.

I would then rinse the coin thoroughly in purified water. Lastly it would have an acetone dip to remove any organic molecule that somehow escaped the above process.

Conservation...not cleaning; hence no details grade should be given.


However, the coin would be "numismatically cleaned" if I use the soap and water, with a wire brush to remove the butter.

OK - a bit extreme there. But even if I did perform the first scenario to get rid of the butter (conserve the coin), and then used a paper towel or tissue to wipe the coin dry, the tissue would actually leave hairline scratches on the surface and the coin has then been "cleaned" and should earn a details grade.




Just sharing what I use - porcupine quills. They have a much smaller diameter tip that will even get the dirt out of cavities of a mint mark; The quills also seem to be softer than a toothpick. My dissecting microscope (a whole 35.00 on ebay) and a porcupine quill make for an easy time of removing dirt from inside fine details.

Yup - unless you see them road kill, you can get the quills inexpensively on ebay.