1876 Trade Dollar - get it cleaned ?

What significant improvement? There is almost no change at all!

Clawcoins: It seems like you might get noticeable results with something much stronger, like salt acid solution. It will remove any current patina/toning but will dissolve and remove that brown crap. It will not damage the surface in any way and if you got PROPER arrangements to allow natural retoning, the coin will not show any cleaning signs in a few years.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Thanks for the Welcome Jack

I've read about VerdeClean from CoinWizardSupply, but not knowing much from the various cleaning supplies they had thus I'm here.

I don't want to strip any metal from it as the coin has pretty good in detail. I'm in no hurry what-so-ever so I just want to do the best cleaning without affecting any of the metal.

Also, I didn't really see much of an improvement as taxidermist stated.

 

Jack, you may of compared my original photos to the latter ones. Those were done quickly for inventory purposes in the past. And comparing the original to the latter there does seem to be a significant difference.

But the recent photos are more accurate. The recent ones were before and after the soak. The "before" of which the black blotches are significantly different than the original photos. But the before / after show are taken with more care with lighting and proper WhiteBalance and a much better camera.

 

So you need to be the judge of whether "progress" has been made. If an organic solvent can have a visible effect on what's there, then very likely it can remove it all (or enough to alleviate your concern) over time. The next time I have a coin soaking in acetone for a calendar week or more (not all in one single bath) won't be the first. In this case, with a circulated coin, a little Q-Tip "help" is recommended, although you should do it while the coin is immersed.

Anything an organic solvent can affect does not need more intrusive methods. If it does not have an effect - even "softening" - within, say, 48 hours immersed, then you have to escalate.

Clawcoins, I think you've already determined where you stand with this one; my words are meant for all the others reading who have not necessarily seen this before.

 

I didn't see much of an improvement, but I did see some improvement especially in the wing, and some lightening a bit around the fringes.

I really was unsure of how long to soak it or what to expect in relation to time and results. 4 hours seemed a lot to me but I'm unknowledgeable about timing/effects of this. If I had the experience, I wouldn't be asking.

So from your comment longer periods of 48 hours or a week is not uncommon. Makes me feel safer that the coin won't melt away into a blob.

I also tried Qtip a bit but didn't do much as once again I didn't know how much agitation to add and I didn't want to go past the cotton part into the handle part and end up scraping.

 

I thought I saw some lightening, perhaps wishful thinking, but I thought... Prolonged soak won't hurt it. Go for a day and see what you get. In the meantime, get some pure acetone and try that next. A word about EZest...it "modifies" the surface in that it turns silver sulfide (and maybe silver oxide) back into silver. Now the new silver might not adhere to the surface, but you will have lost some of the schmutz that you are trying to take off with your soaks. Let me reiterate what I was saying about using the EZest. 1) put the coin in a sink where hot water can hit the surface and inundate it with hot water for 30 sec or so 2) remove the coin (wash your hands first) and use a cotton swab to dab some EZest on the problem areas and only on the problem areas 3) return the coin to the hot water stream and repeat as desired 4) give it a distilled water rinse and pat dry.

 

Thanks

I'll try a longer soak with Xylene

Then try acetone

then spot dabbing ezest

as stated above ... escalate

new territory for me so it'll be slow going.

 

Dude...keep us apprised

 

Just put it in for a 48 hour soak

 

What? You need to try some for your next book!

 

I generally trust you implicitly, Kentucky, and you're a chemist where I'm not, but I can't endorse the process you recommend.

Clawcoins, read this first:

http://www.coinworld.com/news/precious-metals/2013/12/silver-dips-unrecommended.html

It's why I so rarely dip, and why dipped coins are so sensitive to retoning.

My only objection to Kentucky's procedure is that your coin has color more or less all over it, so you'll be turning those darker patches into lighter patches. There will still be plain contrast with the rest of the surfaces.

 

Checked quickly on the way out this morning .. looks to be losing a lot of the crud.

 

My first try at this.
The stain was on there after all the previous attempts of various solutions.
Thus I had to dip it very carefully.

I think it was good results for my first attempt. though looking at the pics closeup I need to do a little more localized dip.

quick pic from my iPhone so the white balance is way off. But now I can enjoy looking at the reverse detail of the coin. I'm a sucker for the eagles.

 

Those above colors are way off. But for reference the white copy paper behind the coins below should be white. lol
Here's a better attempt on my iPhone - I'll take better photos later on my setup but those one's above are awful on my screen.

 

I understand that the coin looks improved to your eyes. But, in my humble opinion, this coin will always have an "improperly cleaned" notation if it is ever submitted to a TPG. You sound as though you're happy with the results and, as long as you are the owner, that's all that matters. I would not have done this. You have permanently affected the coin's appearance, and value.

None of us actually own our collections. They will all, eventually, end up with other collectors. While in our care, we have the responsibility to maintain them, as best we can. That requires more than simply seeking the opinions of others who know more than we do, it also requires that we act upon the advice that they give to us. Over time you'll be able to identify people who know what they're talking about, as opposed to folks who just throw out suggestions without any experience or knowledge of the subject. The voice of reason here, was SuperDave's. You chose to ignore his advice. As a result, this 140 year old treasure has been altered during your stewardship.

These are just my thoughts and I am certainly NOT the most knowledgeable member on this forum. Jack

 

IMO, for the better. That coin can EASILY be conserved by a professional. Anyway, as it stands now, it looks a lot better than it did and there are plenty of people without your knowledge or SD's who think it came out OK.

Now some hard truths: IMO, that coin cannot be hurt as long as the owner does not hairline it up. It is already worth more money (eye appeal) than when he started.

I agree. From your keyboard to my eyes!

 

Great job! I'd say the next step in this coin's conservation should be to leave it alone for at least 6 months and see how the surface retones.

 

This is a great article, @SuperDave. Thanks for posting this.

 

If you didn't scrub it in any way, than it is perfectly acceptable and I think much more appealing than it was. Good results to me.

 

Much as I dislike the idea of altering a coin simply because you don't like what it looks like - as if it'll be yours forever - it's hard to get really worked up about this one. You'd have to pocket-circulate it into low XF for it to stand a chance of ever being adjudicated "original surfaces," and since we don't know what originally affected the surface it may have helped preserve it from further damage.

It's going to retone rather quickly now, I should think. If it were me, I'd buy a box of strike-anywhere matches, empty the box, drop the coin into a shot glass and leave that in the box for a month or so on a closet shelf, checking on it weekly.