I've got this coin, it's copper, nice and quite scarce. I am concerned about the blue-green "stain" to the left. I also see couple of white "spots" forming. Should I leave it as is or try some cleaning? I never clean coins I did it couple of times and the results were disappointing. What would you do with this coin if you were me?
That blue-green coloration is verdigris. Try soaking it in olive oil for a few days then thoroughly rinsing it with distilled water.
The only thing I would do with this coin is use some of Badthad's Verdi-Care. That should take care of the verdigris.
Do oil and water mix ? - No. Does water dissolve oil ? - No. Then how will water remove the oil from the coin ? - It won't. wc - I agree about the Verdi-Care being the only choice to remove the verdigris. But what might be of even greater concern are the dark brown stains on the neck and hair. I can only assume they are due to environmental contamination of some kind and there are only 3 basic choices for what to use to remove them - distilled water, acetone, and xylene. And then you must consider what the coin might look like once those stains are removed. You may end up wishing you hadn't tried. So you are faced with a dilemma, one that is all to common - what coins are and what coins are not worth trying to clean ? Not knowing the true scarcity of this coin I cannot say what would be the better choice. But what might be one would be to leave the coin alone, sell it as is, and get another without the problems to replace it.
9 times out of 10 it is better to just leave it as is. If it really bugs you that much try selling it and buying a new one without those problems like GDJMSP said. Cleaning coins can just cause more problems and diminish the value. Personally I would not clean it deal with it or sell it and buy a new 1.
They do huh ? Then why does oil float on water ? Why does oil and water separate into two layers if put in a bottle and shaken up ? But I'll tell ya what, if you want scientific proof, you put olive oil on a coin. Then rinse it as much as you want in water. Then go get that coin tested at a lab. They will find olive oil still on the coin.
I know oil and water don't mix. I think that's something everyone realizes when they're about 2 years old.
