First Run At Coin Cleaning - Coin Community Forum

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Author	Replies: 9 / Views: 2,192
falter New Member Canada 4 Posts	Posted 11/29/2010 7:11 pm Hey guys, Guess I've gotten hooked on ancient coin cleaning! I bought a bunch about a year ago on ebay -- uncleaned for about $30. There's I think about 25 pieces. The auctioneer included what look like sharp points (he called them arrowheads) and a (bronze?) handle from some kind of pottery. Anyway, given the price and ebay's reputation in general, I figured I'd take a risk. The guy had good feedback. When they arrived, they were, as pictured, heavily encrusted. Toothbrush and various other suggested treatments did little/nothing. I read on a site that soaking in distilled water worked, if allowed to sit for a long time. So I put them in water and let them sit for a year as suggested by someone on that site. Just removed them yesterday and attempted the usual. No dice. Again I figured, there are millions of these things if they are real, and given what I paid, it was worth taking a bit of a risk. I have a small battery powered Dremel that has some sort of wire cleaning brush. I tested it on a really bad coin and it actually brought out some detail and appeared not to damage the patina. On a second coin I tried, it did scratch a bit of it off in places, but I'm figuring this is my first run, I'll not likely try to trade these so on the first few a few 'mistakes' are inevitable and ok. Anyway, I've scanned a few of them and I was hoping someone more experienced than me might be able to tell me what if anything I've got. Here's the link: http://www3.telus.net/~bhodge07/roman001.jpg The one on the far right is extremely thin (almost like an old-style subway token) and appears silver in colour, though encrusted with something. I've not attempted anything beyond toothbrush on this one as I understand if there is silver content, it could scratch? The second one the wire brush was tested on, revealing a bit of a head. The third one was completely caked and revealed those words after a bit of dremeling. Can't quite make out, but it seems like 'SILEISA OMEON' or something for the final two words. The final one on the top row I've scrubbed and dremeled, but nothing seems to be coming out... I guess what I'm wondering is -- can these things 'lose' their markings? ie. At one point after cleaning do you say 'ok, we're not going to get anything here'? ANy ideas on what I could do? The final one is another I dremeled a bit. Bit of a head coming out there. As mentioned, most of these are encrusted to the point of being smooth with no hint of anything underneath. I'd most gratefully accept any pointers on how to go about cleaning these and where/when to give up! :) Much obliged! Report this Post to the Staff

falter New Member Canada 4 Posts	Posted 11/29/2010 7:14 pm Oops.. I said 'the one on the far right' when referring to the silver-like coin... it's on the far left in that picture.. :) Report this Post to the Staff
Zarboy Valued Member South Africa 169 Posts	Posted 11/30/2010 02:35 am Falter, if you search through the threads, you will find tons of info on Ancient coin cleaning "I did". Short answer is: Soak in Olive oil and lots of patience. As to ID's of the coins, there are a lot of Specialists on here that should reply to you soon. Some of the guys on here know more about Romans than Ceaser did. Report this Post to the Staff
bobbyhelmet Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 2838 Posts	Posted 11/30/2010 09:22 am Hello and welcome to the forum. I cant but I'm sure someone can ID the first coin, it has enough detail and I think it looks 'different' enough for someone to recognise it or its style. The only thought I had was that perhaps it was middle eastern or asian, not my area so lost now. The second coin is Roman, I'd say 3-4 century, the bust looks very youthful. I can make out some of the lettering but not enough to give a positive ID, you may have better luck with the coin in hand. Given its style I'd guess it was probably one of Constantines sons / family members. Is it silver? I cant tell. Three is Byzantian, it reads '+LEOn/EnOEObA/SILEVSR/OmEOn' and is Leo VI from around 900AD - some examples here: http://www.tantaluscoins.com/browse...r=1&qs=holdi Not sure if I'm seeing things but 4 could be a campgate (http://www.beastcoins.com/Topical/A.../Treveri.htm) or funery pire / alter. If it is its Roman and around the same date as coin 2. They were used by a lot of diff emperors so ID would be difficult. Again 5 looks like 3-4c Roman. Cant help much more. You did a nice job of accelerating the cleanup - I think its ok to use tools etc as long as you have as steady hand and a bit of patience. As you said its about experimenting, you can learn a lot by testing on a few poor quality coins. I've used electrolysis in the past with good results. You will make the odd mistake and ruin the odd coin but learn a lot in doing so. Some coins cant be cleaned - they are too far gone, details will disappear completely and just a smooth disk will remain. A good rule of thumb is to clean until the coin is identifiable (or you like the appearance) then stop. As far as how far you go with the unidentifiable coins I just accept that an unidentifiable coin is pointless and worthless so either it goes back into the olive oil for 12 months or I look at harsher methods of cleaning such a electrolysis. All this being said I get the best results from long soaks in olive oil and light rubbing with the back end of a match stick. The match stick is softer than the patina so it gets damaged and wears away before the coin does. Usually! Report this Post to the Staff
bobbyhelmet Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 2838 Posts	Posted 11/30/2010 09:34 am Forgot to add - I think all of the coins in the picture are cleaned to the point where no more will help. 1 + 2 I think can be identified - 1 needs a better expert than me and 2 may be identifiable with a close up picture of it on its own (both sides), it will only take a couple of letters to appear in the legend for it to be 100%ed. 3 is IDed so now its time to stop (out of interest, how good is the other side?). 4 + 5 are too far gone other than to give educated guesses, its unlikely any more cleaning will help. Report this Post to the Staff
TNG Bedrock of the Community United States 10284 Posts	Posted 11/30/2010 10:03 am We have a store here in town called Harbor Freight that sells import bulk surplus tools and such. There they have machines called sonic cleaners. They are cheap as 30 bucks or can go for a lot online. I found this page by googling sonic cleaners. I think they carry this one. Sonic Cleaner I was tempted to buy one but have not. I have read where some ancient coin collectors have used them. Thought you might want to investigate this route. I cannot say for sure if they work or not. Report this Post to the Staff
falter New Member Canada 4 Posts	Posted 11/30/2010 12:11 pm I actually have two sonic cleaners here from my business -- but I wasn't sure what'd be safe to use as a solution. I tried just distilled water but that didn't seem to help any. Report this Post to the Staff
pls Rest in Peace United States 1729 Posts	Posted 11/30/2010 1:00 pm Olive oil + time + patience are your best tools. A Dremel speeds up time; but one slip with a Dremel and you've pretty much gouged an 1,800 +/- year-old artifact and ruined it. When the surface of the coin emerges, it's probably time to use a matchstick or a round toothpick. Did I mention patience? Report this Post to the Staff
falter New Member Canada 4 Posts	Posted 11/30/2010 7:27 pm Yeah I'm totally down with patience! I'm always amazed that a private person could purchase something this old. My main concern was not knowing whether I simply had coins that had lost their details partially or entirely, or if I'd not done enough. Will try the olive oil for sure..! Report this Post to the Staff
CanadianCoinGuy Valued Member Canada 54 Posts	Posted 01/12/2011 4:15 pm The silver coin(middle eastern ya?) soak it in lemon juice for 24 hours,then scrub with toothbrush & repeat until its clean.The bronzes-I boil them in water & 2 Tbl spoons of washing soda ( carbinate/bicarbinate ),let cool on stove,then soak in mineral water ( NO tap water ) for 3 days,then scrub with toothbrush in the mineral water,then change water,soak for 3 days,change water(do that about 5 time over 2 weeks),then get magnification(microscope if you have the money)and scrape off dirt with tiny wood,plastic,brass tools,toothbrush,repeat until it is as clean as it will get.That is how I do it-leaves all the patina on and 10-20% are NIIICE.The rest you can zap them-strips all the patina off and looks like crap Report this Post to the Staff
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