did i just destroy the patina on my eoman coin?!?

Well, you might have a denarius or two.

 

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Unless you REALLY know what are doing, the hardest thing that should ever touch a coi is something that is softer than it. So for bronze coins you use brass tools. That is the hardest, but start with water and a hard plastic denture brush.

I have a steel dental pick, but its for bd and use under a magnifier.

 

So should I use a catfish?

 

I'm no expert on cleaning coins but I would say you shouldn't be using sharp objects like those. On the other hand, thats the way you learn too. Good luck on cleaning the rest of your coins, keep us posted.

 

will do.

 

I might use bamboo skewers with a liquid such as water or oil myself.

 

Hopefully Matt will come by and let you know how he did with his bucket of metallic dirt. He used a variety of methods that seemed to work fairly well with him.

 

Maybe the pointers. Not kidding, I know a dealer who uses a dried rose thorn.

 

I think that was the historical choice. Just remember, your mother always warned you against picking at it.

 

just resived my ten other romens!
p.s. my first ones are all smaller than a dime, does this change anything?

 

One of my favorite picking tools is a pin vise with a splinter of ebony wood left over from a jewelry box I made for my wife 30 years ago. I don't know what I will do when it is all gone.

 

sounds lie it does the job.

 

Queston for all you ancient coin folk

I do not know enough to contribute to this thread but I have a queston for all you ancient coin folk-
Is it advisable to drop an uknown ancient coin to see if it rings? I would suspect the ring would mean something about the metal. I would further suspect that if the coin breaks, that you would have learned something else about the metal.

 

The ring test is overrated, and really only says anything about a silver coin. Since silver is most apt to have damaging porosity, i do not recomend it sir.

 

Essentially, you just hit the coin with this.

 

Let me know. I bet my father has some ebony, (black or pink) laying around.

 

would vinager clean them faster?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spell_check

 

ha ha. nice.

 

http://www.forumancientcoins.com/da...ue of Rare and Unedited Roman Coins Vol 2.pdf

great info on the rare and unedited roman coins.