OK How Bad Did I Screw This Up ?

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Originally posted by ojo

but id only do thison coins ware you cant read anything, like my roman coins have been in the ground for thousands of years and have thousands of years of gunk on them unlike that nickel. so if you read and seee most of it dont clean it.

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Ancients are a different story (and one I know little about to tell the truth). When you have an encrusted, dug up, bit of something or other that might be a coin, I would imagine what what is 'acceptable' is different.

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Originally posted by lim118

To clean or not to clean and if so how is perhaps one of the most asked about question. I follow the simple rule of "NEVER" .

Having said that, a few collector mates have tried digital ultrasonic gizzmos and I am getting very mixed feedbacks about them...ranging from "Brillant" to 'Mediocre". I am wondering whether any member here have tried them.

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I have tried them in the lab , there are many machines on sale that only vibrate
A real ultrasonic is expensive
They are mostly used by jewellers and then together with specialised mixtures of acids detergents and reducing agents
The only advantage over a conventional dip is that they are fast and reach inside intricate woven jewelleray bracelets

The reason the results are mixed is because of the quality of the coin before cleaning
A real uncirculated (non copper coin ) will mostly come out a lot better it you haven't let it bang around the bottom of the machine
But in my opinion this type of cleaning will be visible under magnification on many coins

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Originally posted by thekidcollector

Is electroplating cleaning a good method or a bad 1?

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Electroplating is putting gold or another material on iron or copper or silver by using electricity , two electrodes and a liquid bath

You must mean electrolyses were you try to get product off a coin
I know somebody who uses it on coins found in the ground with a lot of encrustration on it
He uses a mixture of baking soda and salt in water and gets all the dirt of in a few hours
I personnaly would not recommend this on anything then low value coins straight out of the ground