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 Replies: 25 / Views: 9,176 |
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Valued Member
United States
293 Posts |
Just thought I'd ask. I've only just started collecting a handful of months ago and didn't really think I'd want to try my hand at cleaning them. I started looking into it a little while back and figured I'd give it a shot. I won a couple of auctions last night, so now I just have to wait until they arrive and see what happens (after days/weeks/months/years of soaking, brushing, picking, etc). I'm sure most will end up being somewhere between slugs and nothing much to look at, but eh...whatever. It seemed like a good idea at the time  I made sure that all together, shipping and everything, I ended up paying about the price I'd be willing to pay for one coin normally, and I have 20 chances to play with these. Here's what I got if you'd like to see: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...160395494174http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...160395494429So...anyone else take a stab at this? Or is this actually how any of you collect ancients? I'm curious...someone has to put in the work on all of these coins that are found and sold...I wonder who is doing it? Have you ever cleaned up anything good? Thanks for looking! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
509 Posts |
I have a handful of uncleaned coins. I've put a few through various stages of cleaning, but don't claim to be a pro. I've cleaned a few to the point that I can attribute them, and then stop. I'm interested in other people's advice, too. If would bookmark FORVM ancient coins. They have an informative website, and even a message forum for uncleaned coins. Another site I've found very helpful is by a fellow who refers to himself as S Capitis. patience is a virtue, -wheatiefan |
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Moderator
 Australia
16868 Posts |
Quote:
patience is a virtue, ...and I'm nowhere near virtuous enough to try it for myself. I'd much rather spend the extra cash and buy coins that have already been cleaned, by someone that probably enjoyed doing so much more than I would. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Valued Member
Canada
464 Posts |
I bought "uncleaned" ancients a while ago, and I can't stress the importance of having patience. I gave up on cleaning coins after a few failed attempts, and put away the rest of my ancients for another day. There are cleaning agents out there which can help dissolve and weaken dirt/grime, I found Gringgott's Wizard Mix to be helpful. There are also many tools out there to clean your coins, from brass and nylon bristled brushes, to dremmel bits (which I've read to be very effective, but never invested in). I learned much of what I know from this forum, as well as the FORVM store website/forum. Those coins in that link don't look very promising, though you never know what lies beneath the grime. In the past, I bought from this seller, with some very good results: http://stores.ebay.com/purseofthelegionary The coins I did manage to clean are among my favorite, I believe collecting ancients is the most interesting type of coin collecting out there and well worth the effort. I will definitely go back to it in the future, time permitting. Edited by gawd0wns
01/24/2010 12:03 am
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Valued Member
 United States
293 Posts |
wheatiefan:
One of the places I've been reading up on uncleaned Roman coins is FORVM...I definitely have that one bookmarked. Thanks for the S Capitis link...looks like some great info there! I wouldn't be surprised if I end up doing the same thing if these coins turn out to not be all that great. Get them to a point where I can attribute them (or not if they're horrible) and then set them aside. I can have a short attention span at times...
Sap:
I do have patience usually...but that goes along with the short attention span :) I'll likely get distracted easily and come back to the soaking coins a month or so later and check on them. I'm likely going to lean toward just buying cleaned ones in the future, but I thought I'd give this a shot at least once...
gawd0wns:
Thanks for the info on the tools, cleaning, etc. As for the coins I bought, like I said in my original post, I'm really not expecting much at all from them. I spent very little...about $1 each...just to take a chance and see what would happen. If I end up with nothing, well, them's the breaks :) If I end up with even one that gets added to my collection (even as a rough looking example), it'll be worth the $20 I spent.
I did look at the auctions/BINs of Purse of the Legionary and actually bid on a few before winning the ones that I did. I really like the look of the coins they are auctioning. The problem is, they were regularly going for well out of my price range, and with them being located in Canada, the shipping was already kind of high for something I was just taking a beginner's chance on. If it turns out that I enjoy this at all, I'll definitely look at their lots again, but I just wasn't ready to drop the kind of money that the lots I bid on were going for.
Thanks for the responses!
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Moderator
United States
23731 Posts |
I buy lots of uncleaned coins and clean them myself, I enjoy the process. This is a method that I use as was posted in an earlier post on the same subject. https://goccf.com/t/50409#399765 |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
5953 Posts |
I have about 50 of them so far they are on year 3 in olive oil. About every six moths I will pull them out rinse them off and put them back in. They have mostly gone from unidentifiable slugs to maybe coins. I figure another five or so years and I will be able to identify them.
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Rest in Peace
United States
1729 Posts |
You'll be hooked. Just keep in mind, as nohope587 indicated (now I know where that handle came from, lol), that 99 94/100 of the cleaning time is soaking time. Don't overclean.
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Valued Member
United States
293 Posts |
echizento: Thanks for the link and info! What do you use to ultrasound the coins? nohope587: 3 years already? WOW! pls: Yes...soaking...I'm already gathering containers. We'll see how it goes  |
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Valued Member
United States
293 Posts |
Just an update...the coins arrived today! Here's how they looked upon arrival...pretty much as they appeared in the auction pics:  Did an initial soak and brushing to remove the top layer of dirt and whatnot and here's what I currently have:  Not the greatest bunch of tiny, crusty coins ever, but out of the 20, just after the initial little bit of work, it looks like at least 1/4 of them will likely be attributable. The rest either look doubtful or have too much caked on stuff to tell at this point. |
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Valued Member
Australia
155 Posts |
I bought 30 a few years back,6 monthsish into cleaning my father handed them to me saying "I cleaned em up for ya"inside the container were 30 shiny pieces of copper and a steel wool pad,i didnt have the heart to say anything,just thanked him and went on my way.
I did buy more though,like the other guys said,if you have the patience for it youll find it addictive.I find it pretty relaxing to.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
Very interesting topic. I have always wanted to try this, but I just worry that it would take forever. I realize that the length of time varies by coin, but based upon your experiences what is the average time it takes to clean an ancient by use of olive oil?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5953 Posts |
5-8 years just using oil and rinsing
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2335 Posts |
There is a method that metal detectorists(is that a word?) use that involves heating hydrogen peroxide in the microwave & dropping the coins in. You might try a web search for details & to see the results.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
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heating hydrogen peroxide in the microwave trdhrdr007- that sounds really dangerous since I presume that fumes from hydrogen peroxide should be avoided. Just what did people do back in, say, the 19th century? Just olive oil over 5-8 years? |
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Rest in Peace
United States
3039 Posts |
Lots of interesting info. I've always wanted to try a few uncleaned ancients (coins that is). Does anyone have a seller they would recommend ?
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Replies: 25 / Views: 9,176 |
Posted 01/23/2010 11:56 pm
