How do I clean these coins?

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On a visit to Bosnia and Croatia a few years ago, my uncle, who I was visiting, found these coins while gardening. There are 53 in total. They are mostly 1 dinar pieces dated 1990 and 1991, with some other coins, and the composition of the 1 dinar coins is copper-nickel-zinc. However, they are all encrusted by dirt, and some have green corrosion on them. Is there any way I can clean these coins to remove the dirt and encrustations? They all appear uncirculated. Thanks for your help.

 

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Try soaking in distilled water and lightly brushing them.

 

Thanks! I'll try that.

I've heard of that method being used with ground finds, especially ancients.

 

Yeah I'm more into the ancients. I don't really know much about moderns, I hear it's a sin to clean them. But your coins don't look too encrusted they should do well with a soak and a light scrub. Good luck with them.

 

What about the really heavily encrusted ones and the green corroded ones?

 

Verdicare for the real green ones if you want to spend the time and money on them. I've heard soaking in olive oil will help too

 

I've heard olive oil works too I've got some soaking in it right now but some say it darkens the patina. I'm not sure how modern coin collectors are with patina so your choice. For the heavily encrusted ones you can get a fine pick and go at it with soaks in between

 

I think this is a place where the rules for Ancients would apply.

Olive oil has its' place, if the coin isn't too valuable. I left an IHC in some for over a year once; it was unreadably black to start but the result wasn't awful:

 

That IHC came out good.

 

Just an odd thought. I've used soaking in automatic transmission fluid for badly rusted and corroded hardware. I wonder what it would do on a coin. I should try some crusty pocket change and see what happens

 

Wish I'd done "before" pics but I didn't. It was encrusted, not just colored, and the olive oil removed all of the encrustation. What was left was just discoloration.

I've always wanted to try automotive fluids on coins. ATF is pretty sophisticated stuff, and would probably do well (excepting it might deposit something on the coin, which may or may not be good). How about brake fluid? That'll remove anything from anything.

 

Good thought too. I'm sure I've got some real crusty stuff that's worth face value or melt to experiment on. Not too long ago I bought a collection that had a bunch of seated and barber dimes that I think had been in a fire. They were totally gone. I left that and the junk silver as the guy I bought it from scraps all that I bought basically everything with numismatic value. they would've been good to experiment on

 

Okay, I separated out all of the really green coins and decided to experiment on one coin with tap water and dish soap. It's currently taking a bath in it, I'll see how it is in an hour.

 

How about another experiment with a pure acetone bath for 24-48 hours?

I know that a lot of it may be organic matter, but it may help to loosen up the dirt and such if there are inorganic components mixed in with the dirt.

 

The tap water did not work, getting distilled water today. Should I use soap or not?

 

Okay, test coin is soaking in distilled water.

 

What about trying distilled vinegar? Or is that a "no-no"?

 

You're confused, acetone is an ORGANIC solvent used to remove organic residues. These coins will not respond to acetone IMO. Inorganic salts are best removed with water.

 

A no-no for right now.

 

The only real difference between tap water and distilled water is 50-900 ppm of dissolved solids. Tap water can be used for soaking, but the coins should be rinsed with some distilled water.