Yes, but even a small rinse under tapwater might suffice. The silver looks relatively smooth, so I expect the dirt to be loose. If not, I would keep it in a can of distilled water for a while (15 days or so), and then try again.
I would never recommend lemon juice. Every bit of dirt and grime it takes off also comes off the luster of the coin. In my opinion.
Not many ancient coins have any luster (at least as I understand luster) left, and if you have to do any cleaning at all, anything other than water or acetone would risk that luster.
I think that's generally true. However, I'm not sure how to really define luster here. Most of the Holding History coins had smooth and "lustrous" fields even after submersion in lye. Probably not luster as we would understand in modern coinage, but at least the fields weren't all roughed up.
Well put. I may have misspoke by using the term luster. Simply put, from a guy who started out murdering "uncleaned" LRBs, when you use an acid, like lemon juice, you will take just as much detail out of the coin as you will dirt. I know, if its covered in dirt then it won't hurt. True, but at that point why not just use electrolysis? My two cents... that are probably worth a hey penny.
Point well taken but lemon juice is a very weak acid and I think the ascorbic and citric acids serve as chelating agents that will remove some schmutz. That being said, removing corrosion usually does just reveal pits.
Has anyone heard the term "Dilution" when trying chemical processes? Junk has been on those coins for hundreds of years, why try to get it off in a day or so? A micro butane torch as an alternative will get them really clean in an hour or less. IMO, Jim
Definitely me as well. I don't have the patience to wait a month or two with olive oil or DW, so I toss the coins into a supersatured solution of Lye overnight and call it a day.
It’s sodium hydroxide, often used for unclogging drains. It’s a little tough to find but some hardware stores carry it.
Lye is the common name for Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) and caustic lye is Potassium hydroxide (KOH) Oops, I'll correct myself, lye or caustic soda is usually NaOH, although it can refer to KOH. Caustic potash is KOH.
To illustrate what I mean by lye being a crapshoot: This one was completely encrusted and lye effectively destroyed the surfaces entirely. On this one however, lye simply removed the encrustations and maintained the "luster" almost entirely.
Wanna hear a random story? In high school my chem teacher paid me $5/hr to make chemicals for her. One day she said she needed 0.1 molar of NaOH and gave me a flask and a bottle of NaOH. Not knowing any better, I handled everything with my bare hands, not understanding the extreme risk of not having any protective gear.
Being familiar with a range of chemicals, there are very few you can't handle safely with bare hands as long as you are careful and remember to WASH YOUR HANDS! My story was in high school I was using Concentrated Sulfuric Acid (the thick, evil, oily stuff) when I put one beaker into another one to "nest" them. The next day, I took the inside beaker and was holding it in my palm when I felt my hand start to warm up...oops...I washed my hand quickly and doused it with sodium bicarb. The entire inside of my (left) hand developed a dry blister that peeled and never did cause me any pain, but I still remember it.
Please don’t use acids such as citric acid on silver coins with a high copper concentration, as usually they will end up pitted. Citric acid is best used for silver coins with copper or ironoxide depositions: those are not present on this coin