Newbie

Hi there, I am new here. This thread looks like the right place to find some answers. Please do not crucify me as I am new to this game. I am looking to start a collection. My hunts will be limited to Malayan money and coins from the British Commonwealth. Am I in the right place? If not, I would be most greatful if someone could direct me to a place where I can get some information on coins from the places I have mentioned. My other question is, can badly oxidised copper coin be polished. I have polished two pieces using Brasso and it works. I just want to know if this is bad or something to be avoided in this hobby. Thanks in advance.

Lim
Georgetown, Penang

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Straits Settlement, Malaya and Malaysia, Singapore, Canada, Australia, ... the British Commonweath has an interesting history that is reflected in its many moneys. I like British East India coins and paper of the Eastern Caribbean Authority. This is, indeed, the right place to be. Not many people here actively collect what you do. However, just about everyone here will be interested in read about you and what you collect.

I don't know how things are on the Malay peninsula, but here in Michigan, USA, cleaning a coin ruins it.

I understand that an oxidized coin might beg for some "remediation" but it has to be done carefully. Also, the bottom line, the harsh fact of reality, is that if a coin is ruined by oxidation, it is ruined by oxidation. If this were some museum piece, then it deserves conservation, but usually the most common coins are just given decent burials. Now that you have stripped off whatever natural surface it had, you might try retoning it. Some people mix a paste of flowers of sulphur in petroleum jelly ("Vaseline") and apply that to a copper or silver coin. Sometimes it helps give a coin a more natural appearance when it was been overcleaned.

 

Hi,

Mike has already said that you have arrived at the right place, and I would agree with him on that score.

I used to collect British Commonwealth coins (still have them) from all over. India was my favourite, but the 1 cent coins of British North Borneo also caught my eye...but I won't go there for now....no I have to!! I just managed to finally complete the date set for the BNB 1 cent thanks to a fellow member of WINS (World Internet Numismatic Society). WINS is a coin collecting fraternity which a few of the regulars here on cointalk are also members of. Visit WINS (and feel free to join) at:

http://www/winsociety.org

If you have any questions on British Commonwealth coins.....or any other `coins' just ask away. No-one here `bites' (at least not that hard)

Ian

 

Congratulations! A complete set is always nice and British North Borneo is a toughie.

When we were kids, maybe 10 and 7, our mother wallpapered our room with National Geographic maps from our uncle, her older brother. I won't go into how the Little Rascals (Our Gang) pre-defined our expectations for "Borneo" but I remember my younger brother and myself looking at the maps and asking Mom, "What does No. Borneo mean? Does that mean you shouldn't go there?"

Anyway, congratualtions.

Mick then, Mike now.

 

Thank you.

Gentlemen,

Thank you for your warm welcome. I must apologies for this belated reply. I was waiting to be notified by mail but none came then, I realised that this forum could be operating differently from other forums. However, I have subscribed to this thread. I have some old coins stashed somewhere in my Father's house. But I have recently taken a fancy to buying whatever that interest me at flea markets and Philately shops. These shops often doubles as Numismatic shops too. Regarding the cleaning of old coins, I have here a half penny dated 1893. This piece must be quite common, huh. I am sorry the images are not good. I would be glad if anyone would recommend me a good budget camera that will take good macros. This coin was black with oxidation when my daughter found it. She would ask, "Pa, how old is considered old money?" I answered, "At least one hundred years old." And this is what she found.

 

Here is another.

Another coin that I cleaned with mixed success is a 1 cent Malaya Currency dated 1945. I guess this isn't very rare but it has on the face King George VI as Emperor. I would think the title is befitting since the British Empire stretched to Far East Hong Kong. I have been hunting for a half cent Malaya coin but no such luck. However, there was a seller who kept a quarter cent coin. I was not prepared to pay him the price he was willing to part it for. He may look like a coolie but he sure knows the Numismatic market. My Father use to tell me that during his school days all he took to school was 1 cent. And with that he could buy a meal and a coke and still have change. Meals during pre-war Malaya ranged from a quarter to half cent. And a coke went for a quarter cent. Boy, how inflation has run out of control. Again, these aren't very good images. I think I will post no more pics until I get a better camera.

 

Hi,

harshly cleaning coins (as evidences in your scans) is a big no-no in numismatics. of course, they are your coins and you are free to do with them as you please, but you should be made aware that a coin so `cleaned' is irrevocably damaged numismatically and any collector value there may have been is lost.

Of course, you are not talking about any numismatic rarity in the one cleaned, but I do hope you will desist from cleaning anything this way, just in case you do wander upon a modern rarity by chance /accident. Tarnish is not `dirt'. It is part of the natural ageing process of metal and coins, and most collectors consider it part of the character of the coin.

I have to confess that in the past I have used modern coins as `experiments' with my own skills in removing dirt / sticky tape and other substances that did not originate with the coin, so I am not guiltless. In general cleaning is frowned upon and even coins that were cleaned a hundred years ago can be identified as `cleaned coins' by a collector.

Although there are exceptions to everything, you would do well to adopt the motto that a cleaned coin is a ruined coin.

Ian

 

I am really sorry to see that this coin was stripped of its natural patina. Why do you think people prefer to wear clothing, as opposed to going around naked? "Modesty" only addresses half the subject. Clothes make the man. A coin's history is written on its molecular layer of surface. Remove the surface and you take a man out of his lounge suit and display him naked.

Another way to look at it is to look in the mirror at the lines on your face. You could have them removed. Some women do that so that they look "younger." In other words, so that they look like people who have no character because they have never lived: no joys, no sorrows, no achievements, no failures.

Please do not clean coins. Even if it were not a matter of romance, the unyielding arithmetic is that coins that have been cleaned are worth less than those that have not.

 

Thanks for your advice.

As I have said, I am a newbie. I didn't know this act of cleaning would be frown upon but somehow wondered about it. That is why I asked. I feel that after cleaning it, I am able to see more detail. For example the Malayan coin, I noticed a mark that I didn't see before the cleaning. There is a tiny protuberance below the bust marked "PM". The mark is so small that I needed a 10x magnifier in order to discern its features. Overall, I sense that the details of both coins is more refined than before it was cleaned. As I have mentioned, the half penny was actually black in colour. For such old coins, I believe some wear and tear is to be expected. I have seen other poorer examples where some of the details has completely worn off.