Hey guys, I'm looking to buy some Verdi-Care for my uncleaned Roman bronzes. The question is, how and when should I use it? For example, this Radiate: It has a bright-green coating which doesn't show up well on the camera, but it's there. I didn't take care to have great lighting, since they're far from Identifiable right now. The verdigris is impairing the legend significantly, but the coin seems pretty good otherwise. So, what would you recommend? This is sort of a subcategory of my cleaning adventures thread, I'm hoping to provide some good advice for my fellow beginners as I navigate these first couple of coin cleaning adventures. Also, a few miscellaneous cleaning questions from a beginner: How do I identify different types of buildup? How long should I soak in distilled water? How do I know when to leave a coin alone? A lot of this comes from experience, but I'm excited to hear from those who are more knowledgeable!
My opinion is you should not clean it at all. If cleaned, it will just be another AE radiate. But as it is, you can see on the reverse the very clear print of a rather fine fabric. This coin was lost in a fabric bag, or in some piece of clothing.
Not that I've ever had experience with cleaning ancient bronzes, but I once read an article on someone recovering such from an ship wreak and they used plain old toothpaste to help restore them.......
Perhaps... The abrasiveness of the tooth paste probably does most of the heavy lifting. It may work on one of my more corroded coins, I have one that has no detail and is rough all over. Maybe it'll reveal something! Edit- I'll try it tonight
Does anyone recognize this type? I'm sure it's an AE denarius because of the laureate head, but I can't find anything that matches. I've found a couple of reverse types that may match, but none of them have also had an obverse with the legend "PIVS P COS III." I can't read the first part yet, but the second half seems pretty unique.
I have no idea where to start with this one. What kind of buildup is this? It's pretty hard and I didn't want to scrape on it too hard in case it's the actual coin; I'm not even sure this one might be worth my time. Is it bronze disease? Is acetone an option? One thing's for sure, this isn't garden-variety dirt whatever it is.
Acetone will only loosen or remove organic substances. A minute or two in sodium hydroxide might loosen it sufficiently to start seeing some details. As always, soaking in distilled water for months sometimes with regular changes of water is normally best. Bear in mind though, underneath that hard buildup, the surface of the coin may have been corroded by whatever it was buried in for all those years.
Yeah it might be too corroded to bother with. I have one that most of the outer layer has cracked off and it's a pitted mess below. I'll have to try the sodium hydroxide thing.
I'm resurrecting this ancient thread because I'm back with more questions. These coins have been soaking since last April and are still quite crusty. Well, some are, and some have some strange buildup, and some I'm certain are just slugs. However, I can't put a name to any of this, nor do I know how to potentially save some of these coins (if possible). Not sure what I'll do if I can't save them, maybe just hold on to them for the heck of it. So, can any more experienced ancient coin cleaners help me identify this buildup on some of my coins? That is, if there's a name for it. These first three seem similar, I can try to dig down but I don't seem to be getting to a level where I can see a patina and then work from there. This seems like it could be removed by chemical means (though I don't know what) and I'm hopeful that I can save these coins because they seem to have decent detail. I'm not sure if this one had the entirety of the patina fall off before I got it or if the coin is fine beneath this coppery coating, but it is quite soft and a q-tip soaked in MS-70 picks up coppery dust. I think this one is just out of luck. It is worth noting that this one has been only soaking for maybe a week. This coin is strange to me. It has this white powdery coating which one may think makes it easy to remove, but it is quite the opposite: it's tough. The color and texture reminds me of limestone, maybe it's calcium? Maybe a chemical would remove it. This one I believe has a large lump on the other side, which I believed to just be buildup until I scratched it and some copper-colored metal showed up. Not sure I've seen an ancient coin with such thick devices. In any case, this coin has me lost. I'm not entirely sure this coin is salvageable. It's crusty beyond belief and a piece of it cracked completely off the edge (not a necessarily important part, it was an excess part of the flan) as I was cleaning and it looked like this all the way through. That may be why it cracked off in the first place, though. I'm not sure what's up with this, a part also cracked off the side if this one (much more easily than the above coin) but I think some of this design may be salvageable. My issue with all of these coins is that I'm not used to these difficult encrustations and coatings, the few that I've successfully cleaned just had dirt on them that did take a good bit of digging and work, they weren't as bottom-of-the-barrel crusty as these.
Yes, those are slugs. I don't even bother with trying to clean coins like that as they will never turn out nicely. There's an old saying-- garbage in, garbage out. Not all uncleaned coins are equal. Many people sell coins that have little possibility of being cleaned; which is why they are selling them. Lots of "uncleaned" coins have been sold again and again, as each seller sees they will not clean up. Another old saying is you get what you pay for. Below is an uncleaned coin that I bought for $300. I knew the coin was rare and could tell by the details showing that I had a good chance at successfully cleaning it. It turned out nicely, though there is some surface porosity...no surprise. Maximinus II A.D. 310 Ӕ follis 26x27mm 5.9g MAXIMINVS NOB CAES; bust l., helmeted [with eagle crest] and cuirassed with gorgon on breast, spear over r. shoulder, shield decorated with two horsemen and four prisoners on l. arm. SOLI INVICTAE; Sol, rad. and in long robe, stg. facing, head l., r. raised, l. holding up globe, in facing quadriga; two horses turn l., and two right; in middle A. In ex. ANT cf. RIC VI Antioch 144
