How to fake a glossy patina?

I recently bought lots of 1943 steelies and cleaned them with the freeze/peel method, leaving the coins with an opaque look. How do I give them back their original glossy patina? I know this may bring down the coins value, but it's a steel cent and they aren't that valuable in the first place.

 

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You need to replace the underlined word above. No chemicals or natural methods will give your Steel cents their original metallic look back, especially after (as you stated) they've been cleaned.

-Brian

 

Any kind of cooking oil followed by a low pressure wipe with soft tissue. It won't give that original look, but it will give a glossy appearance that is acceptable to most collectors.

PS: What the heck is the freeze/peel method?

 

where you freeze them, and peel em'... :devil: (just a guess! i don't clean coins! )

 

Numismat:
The freeze/peel method is when you wet a coin and freeze it so the pores open and grime falls off when the ice is removed. Then, you squeeze a drop out of an Elmer's glue bottle onto wax paper and place the coin onto the glue. Wait until the glue dries, and peel it off. Repeat as needed.

edited

 

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-Brian

 

Applying Elmer's glue? no, no no! Rule #2- Never clean your coins!


If there are coins you want for your collection, sell off the ones you don't like or are defective and get the ones you need. Cleaning just devalues or damages the coin.

 

Does that freeze and peel procedure really work on grimy coins? I wonder, but don't think I'll be trying that on any of my coins. I usually buy only what is aesthetically pleasing to me and grime and dirt is a complete turn off. I don't even like pitted, stained or coins with verdigris on them. But maybe it is fun for some to use that method to clean up their grimy coins!

 

That's true, but there are ways to improve the appearance without necessarily damaging the coins. The cooking oil method I mentioned works well for coins that have already been discolored by chemicals or have unremovable green spots. The oil minimizes all of this and gives a more even, glossy look to the coin. And, if you ever wish to remove the oil, it dissolves right off with alcohol.
Again, it will not replicate original looking glossy luster and there is no point in using it on a non-problematic coin.

 

Hmm never thought about using a distilled water soak. It's kind of a pain to boil and condense water to make it, but I guess the safety factor makes it worth the time.
And I wouldn't suggest oil as a means of cleaning anything, just to cover the bad eye appeal that a cleaning gone wrong can cause.
Thanks again for the tip.

 

Just as a scientific observation:

Have a problem in that coin metals have a coefficient of expansion/contraction such that the metal contracts in cold, so the pores would close more before the water reached freezing. And then there is a problem with water as the maximum density is reached at 4 degree cent. ( contraction to there) and then expand again below 4 degrees C. ,as in a freezer. So I can not see how this process would actually do that.

As an aside, I recently rescued a hard drive that had a problem booting by freezing the drive in a zip lock and then firing it up. The cold caused shrinking of the disc and concentrated the sectors just enough to boot. I then saved the data.

Also specific gravity determinations are suppose to be done in 4 degree C, water as a standard density ( in case you try the process).

JIm

 

Dang. The sheriff really rounded up a few hombres in this thread.........

 

You know how it gets with cleaning threads and AT vrs NT threads .

 

What always works best for me is dunk it in some liquid nitrogen for about 10 to 15 minutes, remove it and give it a good whack with a sledge hammer. Gets every bit of grime off 100% of the time.
Guy

 

Cleaning (Gasp) of Coins

It was interesting to see mention of a freeze/peel method. I searched it on Google and came up with this: http://www.dirtyoldcoins.com/restore/cointypes.html Apparently used on ancient coins that have a REAL coat of grunge on them and which coins are never going to be considered MS60 coins, but the collector would like to attribute them. Essentially there are actually two different methods. The first method consists of freezing the coins in a freezer and then throwing them into boiling water. The metal will contract at the low temperature of the freezer and the fast heating will possibly cause the metal to expand faster than the grunge and cause it to crack. The Elmer's glue technique I have also seen for cleaning old nasty records. A thin film of Elmer's (or some white) glue is applied to the item being cleaned and the glue is allowed to dry. The dry glue is peeled off, removing anything that is loose and removable. No wiping or buffing here, so no polish lines, however the peeled glue would probably leave many surfaces quite porous (check out on youtube what it does to a nasty old LP record though). As far as "re-surfacing" the steel pennies, I have seen lots of ads where they have replated and thn polished the coins. Not sure how you would do this, although I have silver plated some New York subway tokens - but that is another story.

 

LN2 is neet stuff, I used to play with it.

 

Why would you want to fake the patina? Usually patina is the dullness added to coins over the years, right? I think glossy patina only occurs on things which turn shiny when dulled over the years.

 

Usually to sell it for more to someone who doesn't know better. Unfortunate yes, but it also happens A LOT. =/