Cleaning Ancients

Hey Ancient Collecters,
I'm usually not around this part of the fourm but I need some help. For the Christmas swap I had received a bunch of ancient and world coins from someone. Included were some ancients, and he/she said they needed to be cleaned because they were pulled right from the ground (which I have been saving for a rainy day, I.e. Today). My question is how do I clean them? I would like to do as little damage to the coins as possible. I have provided a quick picture, I figured it wouldn't really matter what they look like now, but if requested I will get a better one.
Thanks,
Jason

 

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Hi Ace

Ancient coins need to be soaked. I used distilled water or de-mineralised water (top up water for the car battery). Some people use olive oil but that can darken the coin if left a long time.

Put the coins in a tub and add the distilled water. Leave them a few days, change the water if it becomes cloudy. The idea is that the minerals in the crud will leech into the water and make it easier for said crud to be removed.

Every coin is different, the crud is different (unless they came from the same hoard). It has been there around 1700 years and in most cases, will not give up the fight easily.

Get yourself a cheap toothbrush, reduce the bristles by half. Soak and brush, soak and brush, and keep going. It can take a couple of hours to many months to get rid of the crud.

You can use bamboo to pick at the coin. You do not want to get down to the bare metal. Ancients have a patina that is desired by collectors.

When you have progressed in your cleaning and got a bit of experience under your belt, you can move on to sharper implements. I use a scalpel. But you have to learn to run before you can walk.

Please DO NOT try electrolysis. You will ruin the coin. Take before and after photos and post here!

Any questions, please shout

 

While I agree with most of Pishpash's post, I would start by brushing with that trimmed toothbrush on the dry coins before soaking. You can always go forward to the next step but you can never go back. You want to stop one step before you make the coin worse. Sometimes that is step zero. We all ruin a few coins along the way. Go slow.

 

Ok, this may be a stupid question, but when u say reduce bristles by half do you mean length or quantity? I'd rather do the right thing than ruin the coins!

 

No such thing as a dumb question. Cut the bristles length to about half. It may not look even or pretty, it doesn't really matter. Cutting them makes them a bit stiffer. Don't be tempted to use a brass brush. People say it won't damage the coin. It WILL damage the patina.

If you fancy trying the oil, remember oil and water don't mix. If you use distilled water first, you can change to olive oil later. Not the other way round.

 

I have a different theory on ancients. Take one dry coin (as an experiment) and cover it heavily with vaseline, then set it aside for two weeks and see if you like the results. On copper or bronze coins, you can speed things up by coating with vaseline, wrapping the coin tightly in several layers of aluminum foil, and boiling it a number of times. This is no worse than a thousand summers in the deserts of Syria. The vaseline's color should progress from yellowish-white to greenish-yellow.

Not recommended for silver or billon.

Heat speeds up chemical reactions, and this is a chemical reaction, not a general (physical) cleansing, as vaseline has zero abrasives.

As an efficient and penetrating solvent, vaseline falls about halfway between water and acetone, and it's actually formulated for use on minor human cuts and burns, nothing caustic about it.

 

Alright guys I have started the soak (sorry Doug5353 I have no Vaseline, and I just got back from the store with my distilled water). Here are the before pictures. How long does it generally take? Days? Weeks? Months? I'm guessing there's no such things as too much soaking right?

 

I've never heard of that doug, interesting.

you can't soak them to long ace, so all good. the amount of time it takes depends. sometimes they wont really clean up any like dougs said, and you done at step 0. sometimes it could take months. the smallest coin, the left coin, and the top right may have the most removable dirt on them. the reverse on the largest chip coin may clean (2nd pic side) up some, the obverse is done already. the obverse of the lower right may clean up a bit.

these are pretty low grade coins, but they will be great to practice on. if you can't find a bamboo stick, like pish suggests, try using a wooden toothpick.

 

In summary, vaseline = a mild, non-abrasive, non-caustic organic solvent, but not for silver, whose spots and stains tend to be sulfites and sulfates unaffected by petroleum products, but for whatever reason, will streak the fields of silver coins.

 

You mention "Billon", what is the silver ratio content in Billon and can those Billon coins be cleaned the same way you would with high grade silver.coins. Thanks

 

I don't try to clean silver ancients. I don't know how. I think the presence of ANY silver (as in billon) sabotages the vaseline process.

 

I use a cotton swab to wipe the coin everyday that's been soaking in distilled water. I keep doing that until it isn't picking up any more dirt.

 

Ace, interesting info from the guys, however, you are just starting out, keep it simple. Just stick with DW with these coins for now. As you become more experienced, you can experiment.

 

I want to try this too, except I have a question...why distilled water? Tap water will remove most of what distilled would remove and it is much cheaper. Perhaps use the distilled water for the final soaks/rinses?

 

I can't think of any reason to use distilled water. The minute you put the dirty coin into the clean water, it's, ummm, all dirty.

 

DW is pure, tap water can have all sorts of stuff in it. Maybe chemists will chime in, but DW is the way to go.

 

Pish, I am a chemist, and the only reason I could think of to use distilled water would be the fact that it would strip slightly more mineral content from the coins. I can't see that trumping the cost of tap water vs distilled water. Now for rinsing proof or uncirculated coins, DEFINITELY stay away from tap water.

 

I have only cleaned a few ancients. If it has debris on it, follow PishPash and Dougsmit advice. I use a wooden toothpick to pick off some junk. Then soak in distilled H20, which can be hastened by boiling. Then gently scrub with toothbrush. Dry. Then soak in high quality olive oil for as long as it takes, even months! Patience is the key. The olive oil works slowly, but it works. Copper coins and bronze will retain some green, but most surface debris will fall off or be dissolved in the oil.
Also, experiment on junk. Play around with vinegar and ammonia, explore acids, and WD-40. Do your tests on copper, bronze, aluminum, and other metals. Keep track of what you learn. Read articles published on the net by those folks who recover coins from ship wrecks, their knowledge and advice is valuable. Even sites where those who use "metal detectors" gather and discuss techniques can be useful.

 

Hey guys,
Here's the 4 day update on the coins. I've been soaking them and daily cleaning them with a q-tip to get off the dirt as suggested. This is actually really fun! This is my first experence with ancients but I would do it again, if I won some or something, only because i wouldn't buy any because I don't know much about ancients and might get ripped off. Anyway guys thanks for the help, please feel free to chime in with information about the coins it would be appriciated. I will be posting more pictures in a couple days.

 

Keep at it. They are coming along nicely. The larger looks to be from the Constantine family.