How to clean those insanely crusty ancients?

Hi guys, just thought I'd ask for some advice. I have here some insanely crusty ancients that distilled water soaking can't break through. I have had bad results with olive oil and don't plan on touching that stuff again (gave me really dark ugly patina's). Part of my head is just saying "zap it in electrolysis!" but I would hate to risk the coin like that, it looks like there is a lot of potential under the crust. What do you guys suggest?

 

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my first thought was olive oil...but if you don't want to do that....i don't know.
maybe try distilled water first, if that don't work...i still suggest olive oil.

 

I would merely buy slightly better coins

 

I got these in an uncleaned lot, can't help it if these things come into my hands. I would hate to just put it aside and leave it

 

There are some cleaning tips on this website for a seller of "crusty romans".

http://www.crustyromans.com/cleaning/

I've never cleaned a coin, so have no first-hand knowledge.

Rob

 

Good luck uncovering the sweet tootsie roll center (I honestly hope that's it's a total winner underneath) ... you have far more patience than myself (I have never even tried to clean an ancient coin ... I just know that I would get impatient and end-up being frustrated and/or end-up wrecking the tootsie roll center)

 

Leave them in vaseline a couple of days then put them in distilled water and leave for 2 hours before trying to clean them off. Works for me usually.

 

Won't the Vaseline waterproof them?[emoji12][emoji12][emoji12]

 

Thanks for posting the photos & I look forward to seeing your "after cleaning" photos. (Hopefully these coins will never look brick-cleaned).

 

Well I try not to use anything that will scratch the coins. After I do that I put them in olive oil for a lonnnnnng time... months... its not an easy process doing it like this but I think they are better quality in the end than the one who use brushes and such to clean them.

 

That sounds interesting. Can you post some before and after examples?

 

I will when I can

 

That crust used to cover the whole darn coin.

 

Do you have the "before" picture? Otherwise it's hard to gauge the effectiveness of your technique. I dabbled in cleaning last year when first interested in ancients but most of the dirties I bought didn't seem to have crust-- just gnarly corrosion which when removed (if removable) did not reveal any details. I'd love to see your starting point to see what type of encrustation this coin had. Maybe there is hope for some of the old uncleaned coins I've had sitting in oil or water for a year (although I doubt it).

 

Sorry don't have before pics on this. I can on the next batch I get though.

 

Thanks guys, I guess I might try leaving it in olive oil for a few months and see what happens

 

Thanks to everyone for all the cleaning techniques!