My First Soak. Thoughts? - Coin Community Forum

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lahave56 Valued Member Canada 152 Posts	Posted Yesterday 4:49 pm Well, after 30 years I tried to clean my first coin. Reviewing advice and experience from members I started with a circulated coin that isn't in great condition and even if it was it's not worth much. And it had pretty cruddy surfaces. According to Numista the coin is aluminum bronze. I couldn't really tell from looking at the coin what sort of crud it might be so I thought I'd start slow and see what happened. I followed the polarity ladder by first soaking in distilled water - dry - and then a half hour soak in acetone. The picture below shows before (top) and after pictures. They almost look backwards to me. As you can see the results weren't dramatic. I've read a number of posts about others experiences. I have an idea what verdigris and PVC damage look like from others posts. Still it's not always obvious to me. This coin had a kind of blackish gunk on it. I suppose it's just having seen lots of coins with various kinds of gunk to have an idea what you might be dealing with and what might work best. It seems to me that both the coins composition and how long the gunk has been there can impact what it looks like. Is there a better approach to recognizing the gunk and choosing the best method of dealing with it? Report this Post to the Staff

joe_77 Valued Member Italy 287 Posts	Posted Today 13H 22M ago Since you removed the thin dirt patina which was on top of both the bare medal and the gunk, the contrast between the two now looks more prominent. How long did you soak? I would leave it soaked for like a day on several runs. Keep in mind that oxidation won't be removed by either water or acetone (and that is why we like both!). You need to observe the surface under some magnification to see whats going on and the difference between soaks. Since this is an inconsequential coin, I would also advise to try soaking a qtip and work the surface very gently after a soak, just to teach yourself what happens; patting or then gently rotating the tip. This is obviously not good for coins you want to restore in mint state but it's a valuable learning experience to try to distinguish gunk vs oxidation or to give you reasonable expectations on what soaks will remove. Hope this helps Edited by joe_77 Today 13H 2M ago Report this Post to the Staff
lahave56 Valued Member Canada 152 Posts	Posted Today 5H 50M ago Quote: Hope this helps @joe_77 it sure does help and I appreciate your help. It's always hard for me to tell what kind of gunk I might be dealing with on the coin. I know different treatments work on different substances. This one soaked for only a half hour and I didn't figure it would get rid of it all but I was hoping for a little better results. I've got the acetone and the time so I will let it soak for a few days and see what happens. I'll try the q-tip a little but I don't want to get in the habit of using that method. Although as you said we're not talking mint state coins here. I guess just soaking is not considered cleaning but it still feels funny to be doing it. I've always tried to avoid cleaning period. The substance on this coin looks dark. I'm not sure if that has to do with the substance, some interaction with the coin's composition, or just age. Appreciate the help though and I'll keep reading and experimenting some. [One quick edit: Do folks generally soak multiple coins at once?] Edited by lahave56 Today 3H 50M ago Report this Post to the Staff
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