I have a question, with ancient silver coins, is it okay to polish them?

Why do some ancient coins look mint while others are dull? Is it okay to polish silver coins?

 

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It is not OK to polish them. Please don't. Reasons coins can look dull are varied but can be metal quality, wear, cleaning method, all sorts of things.

 

Personally I don't like a shiny look to ancient silver. It is ancient after all. If a silver coin is too dark for my tastes, and the color is not eye-appealing, I will sometimes clean it up with acetone and a mild lemon juice solution. That will brighten the coin without making it shiny. I simply don't like coins that are thousands of years old looking like they were minted yesterday.

 

So even if the oxidation has reached a point to where the coin is almost black, It is better to just leave it?

 

I never tried the lemon juice but have heard of it, I didn't think polish would be good for it

 

That's a matter of taste. Here is a coin that's almost black, with deep metallic blue undertones, but it's gorgeous. To polish this coin would be a crime...



Roman Republic, C. Piso L. f. Frugi, moneyer.
AR Denarius. Rome, 18mm, 3.8g, 8h; 67 BC.
Obv.: Laureate bust of Apollo right; DXX behind.
Rev.: Naked horseman on horse galloping right, holding palm frond and reins; uncertain object above; C•PISO•L•F•FRVG below.
Reference: Crawford 408/1a; Sydenham 851m

 

That's a sweetie, JA

Oh, and I have one too ...





... my guy has a whip rather than a frond ...

They're both super cool, eh?

 

Cleaning and polishing are two totally different things but IMHO you should leave toned coins alone. Most collectors prefer toned coins to bright shiny coins, and unless you know what you're doing it's easy to damage a coin by cleaning it.

 

Black is a normal color for silver coins that spent 1800 years in certain situations. If a silver coin has reached black black like the two below, chances are high that they will look terrible if cleaned even professionally. I really like the look of the Caracalla (first below). The Septimius under it has some roughness and would look horrid if lightened up.

 

Those all had a nice patina on them

 

Here is one of my Frugi's... pretty dark... I leave mine alone, and do not clean. I will leave that task to future generations...


RR L Calpurnius Piso Frugi AR Quinarius 90 BCE 13 mm 1.93 g 2 h Rome Laureate head of Apollo right uncertain symbol behind Victory advancing right holding wreath and palm Craw 340/2, Calpurnia 13, Sear 236
From the Social War

 

Polishing is pretty much a no-no for most people in this forum, but it is your coin. Try a little lemon juice first (15 minute soak at a time).

 

Welcome to the forum Tom! I agree with the others here - good luck!

 

Here is my Julius Caesar that seems to get darker everyday.

 

I love a nice deeply, toned ancient coin!

 

Dang Bing, you gotta' take a Brillo pad to that puppy

 

I posted a question last year some time about cleaning this coin. The consensus was to leave it alone. I'm telling you though, every time I get it out to look at it, it's darker than the time before.

 

It's still a very attractive coin. If it goes any further you might want to consider some lemon juice and a q tip close to a sink where you can rinse it quickly.

 

Buffing/polishing ancients is pretty abhorrent imho. I walked into the brick and mortar of this store and probably had a look of disgust on my face the entire time.

 

As stated above, polishing and cleaning are different animals.
Although I'm not self confident enough to do that myself, cautious cleaning can be OK
Polishing will destroy the coin forever and should be avoided

Dark silver is quite nice though :







Q