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To Clean Or Not To Clean!

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Author Replies: 7 / Views: 142Next Topic  
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MetDet71's Avatar
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 Posted Today  8H 13M ago Show Profile   Check MetDet71's eBay Listings Bookmark this topic Add MetDet71 to your friends list Get a Link to this Message Number of Subscribers
Just a simple one this one, would you all leave this coin as is or would you try to clean it?
Met.

26mm 7.7grams.



To-Clean-Or-Not-To-Clean!
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JimmyD's Avatar
Canada
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 Posted Today  5H 45M ago  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add JimmyD to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Depends on what you mean by cleaning.
Soaking in acetone and rinsing with distilled water is OK.
Almost anything else is not recommended.
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 Posted Today  4H 18M ago  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add livingwater to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
It is possilbe to correctly clean or conserve an ancient coin, many have done it but learn about it before trying. It's good to experiment on cheap ancient coins before trying it on a valuable one. There's posts here on CCF about it and Youtube videos you can watch. Do not use anything abrasive. Many soak ancient coins in solutions like distilled water, olive oil for weeks or months. Many ancient and modern coins found in the ground need to be carefully cleaned besause of the encrustation. A bried soak in acetone may help.

The green areas on the reverse look hard and stable, it may or may not come off and you could make it worse trying to remove it. If crud is on the surface of a coin it's possible to remove it. But if it goes deeper into the coin that's a problem. The green stuff is called vertigris. I've used Verdi-Care to improve the appearance. When green stuff on ancient coins is powdery it could be active bronze disease which needs to be treated to stop the corrosion.
Edited by livingwater
Today 2M ago
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mcshilling's Avatar
Canada
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 Posted Today  3H 34M ago  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add mcshilling to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply

Livingwater gave good advice give it a try.
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Victor's Avatar
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 Posted Today  3H 33M ago  Show Profile   Check Victor's eBay Listings Bookmark this reply Add Victor to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Your coin might clean up okay...but it might look worse. It helps to know what you are doing before trying to clean a coin. You should practice on some culls to better understand what will happen. I used to clean lots of ancients; but now only clean occasionally. Here are a few that I have cleaned --



To-Clean-Or-Not-To-Clean!


To-Clean-Or-Not-To-Clean!


To-Clean-Or-Not-To-Clean!


To-Clean-Or-Not-To-Clean!
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mcshilling's Avatar
Canada
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 Posted Today  3H 29M ago  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add mcshilling to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Nice work on those Victor, I like the last one turn out nice.
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jbuck's Avatar
United States
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 Posted Today  4M ago  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add livingwater to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Those are great examples of cleaning Victor. Do you mind if you share a little how you did it and how long it takes? Thanks.
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