Electrolysis -- Showing The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

Nice results! I have seen some terrible "cleaning" jobs using electrolysis .. as
I am sure most of us have.. Just pure destruction.

Looks like you have a pretty good handle on it and there is no denying the end product!

For those of us not so familiar with ancients, what are the prefered methods of cleaning them?

I have tried multiple sessions on Roman coins as tests, but never caused pitting. But -- as you say -- every case is different. And may be alloys I haven't tried. But one way to certainly destroy with electrolysis -- screw up and put the coin on the anode!!

A proposal -- I'm guessing that many of you have backgrounds in technical fields like myself (much of it in chemistry). So we like to draw our conclusions based on hard data. Two things are obvious -- being buried for centuries puts corrosion on Roman coins, and 2. Zapping removes the corrosion and exposes the underlying pitting. This also removes the portion of corrosion called patina. But there still seems to be some question as to whether zapping, properly done, can cause additional pitting or damage. So far, I have never been able to cause pitting on any coin, old or new. However, as someone mentioned, there may be other alloys that might be damaged. Could some of you please experiment on some low value coin and see if you get the same result? You could even use a pitted trash coin but see if the zapping adds further damage. Just use the method I mention above. And do NOT, as I once did when careless, hook up the coin to the anode. Complete disaster!

Claudius, this may be just like seeing the image of a man on the moon, but, having seen many coins like it, that lower left image looks like it might be a very common image -- a fallen horseman being speared by a Roman soldier. The coin is upside down.

Thanks for the tip, Claudius. I went right there and ordered a copy. Though The earliest coin I've gotten was from the reign of Tiberius, most are indeed late Romans.

Yes both are great resources.For LRBs that aren't in great shape I have had great success with Bruck's book.
If I know the Emperor for certain then Wildwinds...but I also find that a good shortcut is going to VCoins.
Type in the ruler.. and in many cases I find the coin for sale with a full attribution. Very nice and quick when that works out.

I am sure the collectors with more experience have better methods. But I seem to get to the correct result eventually. If I am stuck I just ask for help.