I like Cleaned Coins and you should to thread

Has anyone tried distilled water mixed with a small amount of baking soda to neutralizing verdigris? I was at a show and sold some wheats while I was there. I told the dealer that I soaked some in alcohol and the dealer and another dealer that was listening in both said that it was ok to do. I also wondering if that coins discolored by acetone were done so because the chemical was left on the coin and not nuetralized or at least rinsed off?

 

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That is a possibility.

Also regarding acetone, there are two schools of thoughts with reputable people on both sides. I have had good results with acetone and distilled water rinse.

I think neutralizing the oxidation before the clean may be a good idea. I will try it on an old British penny.

 

That coin doesn't require conservation. I would just put it into an airtite and forget it. Verdigris cannot grow without it's primary feed material - air.

Again, I caution you about soaking coins in random stuff. Conservation is a calculated science. It's VERY easy to end-up ruining a coin. If you don't know exactly what you're doing, it's best to leave a coin alone. There's nothing wrong with a little grime on a coin.

 

Yeh, I didn't think so either. The verdigris is so small I wouldn't bother unless I thought it was going to spread. I stuck it in an air-tight.

 

Somewhat agree, that's why I usually attempt to clean the coin, --especailly if its a proof-- using photo editing software first. Can just click undo if it gets messed-up. If only it were that easy in the real world.

 

OK, I've read through the entire thread and found it totally interesting. One topic was lightly touched upon but not really explored was the use of an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner. Would that constitute "harsh cleaning" if used with just distilled water or perhaps peroxide?

 

When I take a photo of a coin, that is it, there is no making it pretty or trying to make it look better than it is. Other than cropping, no other editing occurs with my coin pics.

 

I photoshop lint out of the pictures along with any other debris that landed on the coin that I wasn't aware of. Sometimes I change the color saturation to better exhibit the actual color of the coin since often times a photo will pick-up the color of the walls in the room etc.

 

I think one of the things that happens with coins that causes them to lose eye appeal is that the surface becomes either rough or porous. This happens because all the grit that has caused the roughness or porosity had deposited in the pits, and when it is cleaned out, the porosity becomes evident. My brother wanted a coin from his birth year (1932) and I had a quarter I wanted to send him. He is by far not a collector, and would probably use it as a pocket piece. I washed the quarter I was going to send him and it did acquire a porous grainy look. Since I was more intrested in the look of the coin more than anything else, I rubbed some white graphite into the surface and it did give it a more pleasing appearance to the eye. Not recommending this as a treatment, and not something I would use for any of my coins, but just illustrating how "cleaning" affects a coin's appearance.

 

This happens a lot with old copper or silver where the metal isn't consistent or pure enough. Think of carbon steel bayonets.

 

Ditto, all I do is crop and resize. If you can't get the right color or you do other manipulations, then your conditions/camera settings need to be corrected. Using Photoshop or other manipulation of the images is "cheating". With a little skill and practice, there should be NO NEED to do such non-sense.

 

I fail to see the difference between manipulating an image with camera settings (white balance adjustment etc) and using software to do the same thing. Other methods to manipulate the image include the choice of background colors when photographing a coin. If you use a light blue background to photograph a gold coin, the resulting image is typically a washed-out brass color with little of the true brilliance of the gold it is made of. If the background is changed to a dark green, the exact same coin will appear to be a rich warm apricot gold color. This, with no changes in the camera settings or editing software.

 

Same coin, first image has been altered using an application on PaintShopPro-7 called "clarify". No question it more closely resembles the coin as viewed in hand.

 

At the other extreme, and of a questionable or dubious nature, lie "enhancements" that are clearly intended to deceive a potential buyer. It's a pretty coin, but not quite THAT pretty...,,,

 

Speaking about verdigris removing, I bought this coin thinking there was some verdigris on it that could be treated with verdicare. I don't know where it is now. It was a bad picture. I guess it doesn't need conservation?

I think it is acceptable to enhance coins with Photoshop (or open-source GIMP) as long as you are using it for your own purposes like for a website or avatar or something but it is unacceptable as a tool to sell something. They want to buy what they see.

 

Electronically dipped version or view!

 

Not a very good dipping since it still has crud on it although you turned the color from a nice chocolate brown color to orange.

 

Has the coin been dipped yet?