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 Replies: 30 / Views: 3,365 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1415 Posts |
I'm ready to try my first cleaning sort-of. I purchased this 1801 US cent. I think it is a 100/000 variant. It is really cruddy on the reverse while the obverse is much better. So in an attempt to make it worse, I will try cleaning. I attached 'before' pics and currently soaking in 100% mineral oil for 2 weeks( as per KurtS!). I mention this if there is real harm done to my coin, I can blame it on KurtS.!  Anyway, there has been recurring discussions about cleaning. So I am going to attempt one to see if it does any good. In 2 weeks I will post the results.  So if you would, please grade this coin for later. Note on color - I need a new camera-- obverse is pretty correct. I did lighten reverse to show as much detail as possible.    |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
581 Posts |
Keep repeating to yourself: "I'm not cleaning it. In two weeks, I will 'rescue' it after someone accidentally dropped it in 100% mineral water."
When you're done with the wire brush, you can say you cleaned it!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1083 Posts |
What a nice coin under all that stuff. I think I would try something also. That stuff on the reverse isn't the green death is it? If it is verdigris it will likely not come off. Good luck and anxious to see the after pictures.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2373 Posts |
Nice detail on the obverse. If you hate it when you are through PM me. I have a hole where that one can rest! LOL nlp
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Pillar of the Community
Egypt
3470 Posts |
I am very interested to see the results of this, as I was asking Kurt about the same thing.
Thanks wwhitman
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New Member
United States
10 Posts |
I'm sort of new to coins, so please forgive my ignorance...I have two questions
1. what is verdigris? I believe I may be suffering this dreaded disease on a couple of my coins. can you get ride of it?
2. I was on vamworld.com, and they where discussing the use of Acetone,I assume for cleaning. any comments?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1083 Posts |
1. Verdigris the way I am using it, is a green, hard corrision on copper coins (or on coins that have copper content). It cannot be removed chemically as far as I know, and if it is removed mechanically it reveals pits in the surface. PVC reaction on coins improperly stored in high PVC plastics is also green and can sometimes be removed by dipping in acetone, but it is also corrosive. Acetone tends to have bad affects on copper coins, but will remove organic compounds from silver and gold.
2. Do a topic search here on acetone and you will learn more than you ever wanted to know.
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Pillar of the Community
Egypt
3470 Posts |
BruceRutledge  to CCF I think okie-colin has already answered your questions |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2540 Posts |
BruceRutledge
Welcome to the gang.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1931 Posts |
i know this sounds crazy (and am not recommending this to anyone) but I tried out a silver jewelry polishing cloth on an un-saveable coin and it does take the verdigris right off. It takes a little rubbing and I was careful not to rub anywhere else on the coin for fear of rubbing away detail. In the end, the coin had some slight markings left behind but I was able to keep it, put it in with the rest of my coins and nothing has come back (going on 4 years now) I am always tempted to do this with other coins to see how toning would be affected but I just don't want to do it to anything that has high details.
Maybe I should dig through my junk coins and try it out on different metal compositions to see what would happen.
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Valued Member
United States
92 Posts |
Ever hear of a product named CLR? The letters stand for Calcium, Rust and Lime, and that's what it's designed to remove, as in bathroom showers, etc. I have found that it does a pretty nice job of removing that green fungus (verdigris or vertigo or ventriloquist or whatever) from Buffalo nickels. It does not seem to etch the metal, at least not in the week's worth of time I have let some nickels sit in the stuff. I also use it on nickels that have been dug up out of the ground. It won't remove pits, but it removes just about everything else, even just plain old "darkness" that copper coins are prone to. They sell it at Wal-mart. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1931 Posts |
I attempted clr as well when it fisrt came out because he actually dips a cent in the commercial and it comes out beautiful. but.... though it may remove dirt and stuff, it also removes the lustre that may be left over. I never left mine for more than a few minutes at a time though.
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New Member
United States
10 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1931 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5318 Posts |
Quote: I mention this if there is real harm done to my coin, I can blame it on KurtS.! Uh-oh!  Seriously--I don't think you have anything to worry about from mineral oil. I haven't soaked any with that level of verdigris, so perhaps others can comment here? Something I would avoid is using a "jeweler's cloth" or any kind of rubbing. Nice details on the obverse! You might also ask BadThad--he has that nice product for reducing verdigris, good luck!  |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1931 Posts |
yep. I dont recommend the jewelers cloth either actually. lol it was just a try on a coin that would have been tossed from my collection anyway. Would NEVER use it on a keeper
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Replies: 30 / Views: 3,365 |
Posted 11/08/2008 09:29 am
