I was thinking of buying a few uncleaned ancients. I know that I won't find anything valuable, I just think it sounds like something fun to try. So, here's my question. How hard is it to clean these coins? Is it something that could be easily explained and done, or should I just give up and forget about it? Thanks!
I dont collect or clean ancients bit i believe all they do is soak them in distilled water for a period of time to break up the dirt
If it was easy or simple, there wouldn't be any uncleaned ancients available, they would be cleaned and sold for higher price. Some ancients survive well exposed to the soil ( such as in a desert) for 1000s years, but most are like todays metal detectors worst finds many times over. The coin's weight may be 1/4 or more corrosion, and need heavy chemical, mechanical, and/or electrolysis types of treatment just to guess what they are. Once, a long, long , time ago, I bought some uncleaned ancients, and they mostly still are, as the effort spent on the most likely to succeed coin didn't succeed. They could all be Babylonian mule cart tokens for all I know, Please just think it will not be easy, but it is interesting, and you can try cleaning techniques frowned on for modern coins such as stiff brushes and chemicals. IMO. Jim
I don't plan on it being easy, I just figured that there had to be an easier, better way than trying to take a brush to one. I can't see how it could be easy cleaning 2000 years of dirt off of something.
that is one view and a very common one. It is not uniformly like this. Many Ancient coins are found in jugs and vases, and well preserved, as well as hordes that were protected, and from tombs. Mandy
Yes, but those clean up fairly easily. Most coins sold as uncleaned coins are from random field finds, so the elements have affected them. Listen, the real low down on uncleaned coins is that nearly every one the sorters know EXACTLY what it is. THis is their profession, and they are extremely good at it. As such, almost anything you will get will be because the sorters knew it was not worth the money to have them cleaned. It used to be different, I used to be able to buy directly from a man who bought direct from diggers. I found a good many rare coins in their. However, every year any other source started containing fewer and fewer decent coins, and more and more slugs and damaged late romans. About 8 years ago I gave up completely, after my source buying from diggers went out of business due to the US import ban on coins from Cyprus. Luckily, I have a couple thousand of these "better" uncleaned coins put away to clean later, but from what I have seen I would no longer recommend buying "uncleaned coins". Do yourself a favor and buy some coins that are already cleaned and you can see the quality. There ARE still lots of cleaned coins unattributed that you can find rare and scarce coins in. If you REALLY want to learn to clean, just let me know.
I would like to learn to clean them, unless I need to invest a large amount into equipment. I just think it would be cool to be able to take something hard to see and make it so that it is recognizable. And I'm ready to break the no cleaning coins rule that comes along with collecting U.S. coins:devil:
Chris, if you are going into details on cleaning ancient coins, think about writing a completely separate thread that can be easily searched out in the future for others interested. Jim
As long as you take your time with them. This was I cleaned to fast/harshly, it was also in bad condition however.
elijahhenry10, It sounds like medoraman will give you tips. But there is also a forum dedicated to cleaning ancient coins. Looking through their threads and/or asking questions may give you some answers to your questions - Uncleaned Ancient Coin Discussion
Yes, its a decent link. There are also a couple of groups on Yahoo groups that are good. The short answer to cleaning ancients would be use distilled water and time as your greatest ally. Distilled water is free this time of year from dehumidifiers and AC runoff. For scraping on the coins, only use brass and softer. I made a sharp pointer and a scraper from brass purchased as sticks from a hobby shop. Also, a stiff plastic brush can be good, (I use a denture toothbrush with the bristles cut down), and a brass brush. By using softer than bronze materials you will not likely scratch the bronze. This works only for bronze coins, silvered or silver coins are completely different. All I ever did with those were water and plastic bristle brushing. Many recommend olive oil, but I mainly found the effects that were different than distilled water being it darkens coins. Thats about all I have. I cleaned a few hundred but found out I was just not interested enough in late romans for it to be interesting to me. That is why I have many left uncleaned. Its not for everyone, but if its for you, go for it. Chris
Thanks for the information. You say about brass, do you know if a flattened rifle shell would work? I know they are brass, but not sure if they mix it with something else for added strength.
The little sticks of brass I bought at a hobby store were less than $1 a stick, so I would not risk it myself. Cut them into good sizes for you to handle, sharpen one into a point and another into a scraper. Not much cost at all. I did not di this like professionals do. They use stereo microscopes and surgical steel to clean coins. They also do it every day and have training. If someone wished to do this, feel free, it just felt too much like a job to me. I tried a few with xacto knives and my stereo microscope, but I just didn't enjoy it. Please don't think most of your coins will come out. Most will be like the pic Randy posted, the coin was not in good shape to begin with, so he didn't do that with his cleaning. That was my original point, these sorters know EXACTLY what to look for, and pick clean almost all good coins. Most everything you will get will look like Randy's coin or worst. On the UncleanedCoins Yahoo group, quite a few of the cleaners compared their costs of buying uncleaned coins and what the value of their keepers were. Almost all of them lost money by cleaning coins, and you never have a say in the type of coin you will get from your keepers. This is why I am now in the "ignore uncleaned coins and just search for the best deal on cleaned coins" camp. With the quality of today's uncleaned coins, I simply do not believe you will come out ahead doing all of this work. Or, maybe I am just lazy.
