Egypt Drachm: Fake Green Patina

Post deleted.

If Doug can do it so can I.

 

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It does appear that you've not only stripped any remaining patina but also removed lots of detail when you could've just left it in distilled water and scrubbed it every few days for a couple weeks.


Thanks for the post of shame. I've shared plenty of my own....
Always good to educate others that when it comes to coin cleaning, leave it to the gods.

 

@Ryro Not nice. You're dead wrong amateur! There's plenty of thick patina left. I could have stripped them down to the shiny raw bronze if I had wanted to.

Why even make the effort to post here with people like you around?
Someone be kind, please...

 

Sodium sesquicarbonate is not acetone; it will strip natural bronze patina if concentrated enough. It is used to treat bronze disease, not to clean normal coins. You're right that the orange stuff was applied, but the patina doesn't look particularly unnatural to me. I don't see much lost detail from the stripping, but it is still unnecessary and less attractive, in my opinion.

 

Oh wait, I'll hurt a coin, ask for all open feedback and criticism and then throw a tantrum and call a friend trying to help a amateur.

 

No friends here...

 

You're being ridiculous. You just changed the post and now it's a poor me post.
Just keeping you honest.

 

I don't think anyone was trying to attack you, @Macromius. I've certainly made mistakes in cleaning coins too. And I've probably achieved results that satisfied me but would upset others. I've definitely used methods that would horrify lots of people! However, it's not an attack to disagree with someone's judgement.

 

The coins were painted. The sodium sesquicarbonate was diluted and they were in there 3 minutes. I did not strip off the patina. A crack was filled in in a dishonest way. You guys just like painted coins...

 

Sort of wish I could see the coin in question

 

How could we ever tell?

 

I saw the original post before the photos were removed. Those coins did have some artificial makeup. It looked to me like any loss of detail was just from removing the makeup highlights and not the actual coin losing detail. The coins themselves seemed to lighten too. Whether this was loss of some patina or just artificial color... who knows. Whether you are ok with a little applied “desert patina” or like the coin without and more honest is a matter of opinion. I have less concern with the coins than the harsh response by the OP.

 

Was the "harsh response" removed too? I don't see it.

 

No, maybe harsh Is the wrong wording... maybe emotional. Either way, we’re all coin friends here. We post to have conversations and hear others honest input.

 

I have had several coins which had such heavy cake-face makeup that it obscured fabric problems such as pitting, scratches, and the like.

It comes to the age-old question: do you prefer a pretty, made up face - or a natural, albeit slightly ugly, appearance?

(to those who are married, make sure your spouse doesn't see your response...)

 

I agree with you and was being deliberately obtuse.

 

Yeah I’d say to the OP, let’s reset and see those drachms again!

This is a good conversation to have!

 

@Macromius if we say pretty please, may we see the coins?

 

Here are the coins I was accused of ruining by taking all the patina off. I am flabbergasted as they were painted green and rubbed down with an ugly fake orange sand patina. I prefer the thick original patina under the paint with all it's variation of color depicted plainly here. Yes, I am an emotional guy, but calling my post a "post of shame" and telling me I removed all "the remaining patina" is obviously not factual. These are not retoned. Did I remove all the remaining patina? Ryro thinks so. He's dead wrong.

 

Did you take any "before" pictures? What did you use to clean them? I think the "walk of shame" comment was meant in jest, why else pair it with a Picture of Dave Chappelle?