1974 D Penny - Verdigris & More!

This gives new meaning to "Crusty original"!

It would be interesting to see the result after verdi-care, for sure. Just to see. If you don't already have some, you should just have some on-hand, either way.

I don't have Verdi-Care on hand, and not enough copper coins to justify getting some yet. All I have is pocket change and a bunch of pre-1982 pennies saved because they're each worth more than a penny, along with the older wheat pennies. I almost never find verdigris on a penny. The one I posted here is a real outlier for me. I happened to get another 1974 D at the same time, but that one was just very dirty. Maybe they had been lying around outdoors for a while, maybe lost in the snow and recovered the next spring.

Anyway, more photos to come; I found another waterless hand cleaner in the house, one with citrus cleaners and pumice, and I got a lot more cleaned off, to the point where the penny is now much more boring, and the details will now probably just say "cleaned using ill-advised methods." :)

Anyone else notice how much Lincoln's ear on this coin now resembles Mr. Spock's?

Barkeeper's Friend contains oxalic acid, so instead I used a reddish-brownish nylon scouring pad. (I think that's one grade milder than the thick black grill-scrubbing pads. I had already tried a worn mild pad, which seems safe even for glass, but it didn't remove the mark by the year.) In my defense I'll say that the pad had been pretty well-used, so it didn't scratch as much as a new one. And it did the job. I don't need to put up the picture; you've all sufferend enough. :)

It was all worth it to uncover those Spock ears. (Who would've known...?) A lot of entertainment for a penny, and that penny is still worth a little more than 1¢ because of the copper content.

OK, final version! Finally the essence comes out, which is the whole point of this exercise, and I hope an inspiration to us all of what's possible in Extreme Numismatics.