Tiberius Purchase

When I first started collecting ancients I was interested in cleaning some unclean Romans I had gotten from my brother. I can't remember the poster who had a clip from the British Museum in London whose department dealt with ancient coins. They created the Rochelle Salt solution. I'll give you the concoction because I don't have the clip anymore.
50 grams of Sodium Hydroxide. 150 grams of Rochelle Salt. 1000 ML of distilled water. Mix slowly until totally dissolved.
Ok sel_691 you ask where I got the ingredients? You don't find this stuff off the shelf that's for sure. But one seller on ebay had a pound of it for sale. I contacted him and bought, not only the Rochelle Salt, but the Sodium Hydroxide (pure lye). The seller's name is quartzpegmatite on ebay. He sells all sort of chemicals. I can't remember what I paid for the salt but it seems like it was under $15 lb when I bundled the lye with it, which was very cheap.
As an aside, the museum dipped bronze, silver or gold in it for between 5 to 20 minutes depending on how encrusted the coin was. I suggest a 5 minute dip and a brush with a toothbrush. Hope this helps.

Hey oxos,

How's your Tiberius coming, hope its not a limes coin like mine?

I would expect a downside risk with the cleaning of any ancient coin. Sometimes, that is the gamble you just have to take.

Wished I could give you a report but work has kept me from doing my poor Tiberius in! Chances of it being a 'limes' and yours being a 'limes' is pretty low Eng5757! Can't image we would both suffer the same fate ....
but stranger things have happened! I have four days off so I'll have a report sometimes this weekend.
Like you all have said there is a downside risk I'll ruin it. That is why I want to take my time and do it SLOWLY! I have had good luck with most of the bronzes I've used the salt on and I think I have enough knowledge of how they work and how fast. And like jessvc1 says I'll soak it in distilled water after the salt treatment to stop the cleaning action. Time will tell!

Well it was my birthday Friday and we celebrated yesterday, so I hadn't had a chance to work on my Tiberius until last night. Here is the coin prior to the rochelle salt 'dip.'








The encrustation was thick and the 'patina' took me over 4 hours to finally break off the coin with the rochelle salt solution with between 5 and 15 minute applications. There is still some of the patina left on the coin. The reverse really had a lot of crud on it and could have used more cleaning but I liked where it ended up.
When I shot the pictures of the coin I had real strong sunlight (amazing for the northwest) and had to drop the exposure a couple of stops to show the detail as the highlights were being blown out so the coin looks a little dark. It looks much better in hand than these photos show, and I'm happy with the way it turned out. For $75, I think I have a good Tiberius.
What do think?

Coin turned out about as good as its going to get plus I'm sure you had fun while staying busy cleaning it.Good job!

Thanks guys. It wasn't a pristine coin to begin with, but it certainly looks better than it did when I got.
The pictures really don't do it service ( darn macro lenses pick up every little thing). That was the first time I tried the rochelle on silver.
As to the lime thing Eng5757, it might be silver?
I really thought I might have a bronze denarius when I first got it, the patina was that thick!

I do JW. Thanks man. That's mean a lot.