Carolingian denier from Venice - might need cleaning?

Recently bought a denier of the Carolingian Emperor of the Franks, Louis the Pious, the son and successor of Charlemagne. This one however is not from the more common mints like Metallum, which is one of the two main reasons why I got it. Instead this coin was struck in Venice. This coin being from medieval Italy is the other reason why. Aside from bronze Byzantine coins (namely Syracuse mint coins), coins from Italy during this time period are rare (as if this coin being Carolingian doesn't make it rare enough ). Interestingly enough, Venice was never under Frankish control; it's believed the Venetians struck Carolingian coins to facilitate trade with the Franks.

I'm OK with cleaning bronze but I have zero experience cleaning silver, and I think this coin can be improved a bit (its not in hand yet). Can anyone provide advice on how to clean it properly, if possible? I'm thinking of leaving it in distilled water and lightly brushing it from time to time.

Louis the Pious, Carolingian Empire
AR Denier
Obv: +HLVDOVVICVS IMP, legend around cross in circle
Rev: +VEN/ECIAS, legend in two lines
Mint: Venice (struck 818-840 AD)
Ref: MG 456v, MEC 789

 

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looks like it needs some tlc, start with distilled water and go from there, nice..

 

VK, as someone elsewhere pointed out, maybe this one should be left alone....or at least be very careful. looks like a pretty good crack that goes all the way through coming up above the A and S on the reverse.

 

I know Chrsmat. I only was hoping to get more opinions on this issue but it seems as if that has failed since hardly anyone has commented, and I'm pretty sure some on here have at least some experience cleaning silver coins.

 

I love your new coin, Jango .... you are the absolute "King" of giving down-n-out coins a sweet home!! (I love that => congrats on a great lil' piece of history, my friend) ... very cool

 

Well, I haven't commented precisely because I have no experience cleaning silver, but there's a thread you might find interesting on FORVM here.

 

Naw man, don't do it. To me the coin appears unstable and any additional handling could result in losing part of the coin.

 

Jeff, as to me, i woulden't clean it too. Look very thin.
If it were my detecting find, and worthless, i would put it for 20 seconds in cleaner pipe Mr. muscle. It would clean old dirt and will shine like a new. But as you bought it, and it worth money,this can be an expansive experiment

 

Thanks Andrey. Yeah it is thin and rare, which is why I'm trying to get as many opinions as possible. How about a dip in acetone? Would that help at all?

 

Acetone would probably get some of the grime off. I've cleaned modern silver coins with acetone by soaking them for about an hour, then removing the coins, dipping a Q-tip into the acetone and lightly brushing them. Mind you - these were common world coins bought at spot, so there was no danger of harming or devaluing them. Your coin looks like it could crack, so don't put a lot of pressure on it.

 

Good news! I soaked it for around an hour in fresh distilled water, then I lightly rubbed it with a q-tip and some of the grime came off. Its not a major improvement so far but I'm seeing the letters a bit better. I'll place it back in the distilled and repeat my process over the next few days or so. Don't worry I've been careful and nothing has broken off!

 

I think it improved a little bit, no?

 

It's a tremendous improvement, and I don't think it needs any more.

 

Well Done! WOW! Just watch that piece.

 

I think I would stop cleaning it now.

 

Hmmm? => yup, that's a pretty sweet cleaning job, Jango (well played)

 

Thanks for the comments guys. Definitely my best cleaning success story to date.

 

Earlier last week I finished cleaning off the remaining spots of dirt (there is a more obvious change with the reverse; also on the reverse the dark areas along the outer border and on the cross are shadows), plus while reshooting it I had a better time getting the color more accurately.



For no scrolling upwards to be required on your part here is the above cleaned photo for comparison:



And how the coin originally was:

 

Very good job on that coin, impressive.

 

Thanks gil.