A Batch of Uncleaned Ancient Coins

Hi there everybody!

I while ago I bought 10 uncleaned ancient Holy Land coins from a website called "Dirty Old Coins." I did not know much about them then, and I still don't really know anything about them now. So, that's where the fun part comes in! Now is the perfect time to spend some time learning from these coins!

Some of the coins in this batch probably won't even need to be cleaned, since they are already pretty much free of dirt. When I received these coins, I was pretty surprised. There was really quite a variety. There were coins that were easily identifiable as Roman with the busts of emperors, and some that are clearly Islamic or Arabic of origin based on the characters. Beyond that, I can not really tell anything. I figured this thread could be a running diary, so-to-speak, of the process of identifying these coins. I posted one of these coins a while ago under a thread "Help on Identifying this Countermarked Roman?!," and I definitely learned some things.

For the first thread on these coins, I want to show the process I am following for soaking two of the coins. These coins both look Roman to me since the outline of a bust is visible. You can see some exposed copper on the coins, since I did try to do a little "preliminary cleaning" on them right after getting them. I did not really know what I was doing, though. I believe I just soaked them in lemon juice and abraded them with something (maybe a bristle brush or even maybe paper towel). Anyways, these are the two coins that I think would benefit the most from soaking in water to remove the dirt. Here are some pictures of them:


If I had to guess, I would say they are both later-date Roman AEs based on their small size, and that the first one is a coin of Valens, Valentinian I, or Valentinian II, while the second one is of Arcturus or Honorius.

Here is the soaking set-up:


I put them in this Tupperware, filled it with water, and put the lid over it. I have heard to use distilled water, but I used drinking (spring) water. I don't think that the drinking water would have a lot of chlorine in it. It was that, or tap water. Our tap water comes from a well, but I figured drinking water would be more purified.

How long am I supposed to soak these for?

Well, I think that's it for the first post. I am always welcome to comments, concerns, questions, coin pics, or any other information! I am still trying to learn my way with ancients, so this is definitely an exciting little adventure.

I will title this step of the adventure: "Uncleaned Roman Coins: Soaking In Water."

Soren Rollin

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

P.S. I have always found it funny how long the posts can be in the ancient coins forum. Now, I can see just how much there is to talk about them.

 

Good luck. Look forward to seeing your results. I started with uncleaned ancients also. After more slugs than identifiable coins, along with the amazing help of the folks here on the Ancients forum, I have moved onto already cleaned coins.

I think there is something to be said about the process of cleaning and identifying coins yourself though. It really gives you a sense of history and ownership. More-so than you can ever get by buying a slabbed US Morgan dollar graded by some TPG. At least that's my opinion.

Let's see the coins that you don't think need to be cleaned up too. The more coins the better!

 

Uncleaned ancients can be fun as well as frustrating. Looks like you only have two coins in that big container. Do you have more? These aren't modern coins, so I would suggest putting them in a smaller container so you can shake them to agitate the dirt off the coins.

 

Thank you very much! I think that this is a good starting point. You're right, something about ancients always appeals to me because of that sense of history and ownership. I can already tell how rewarding the feeling of identifying what was previously caked in dirt is. I will take some pictures of the other coins!

I only put two coins in that I felt needed it the most. I will take a look, though, and see if the others could use it. I never would have thought to shake them up, but that is a good idea. I will look around for a smaller container.

 

We really collect knowledge more than bits of metal. No coin collector is as long winded as an ancient collector, because we LOVE the history, society, geography, figures, etc of the coins. Many of us collect coins to force ourselves to read more about these subjects. I just got a coin from Turan. NO WAY would I ever know where that was unless I bought this coin. I read a Percy Jackson book to my son. In it was a god named Harpocrates. Yesterday I found a coin depicting Harpocrates. I may have to buy it. You never know where you can learn from.

 

It's a fun little activity, cleaning up the crusties. Sometimes you find something good. My experience was that about 50% of the coins I got in bulk lots (sometimes 240-250 coins a pop) weren't identifiable. So we call those slugs or culls. Eventually I got tired of the mess of cleaning and just decided to buy individual coins or lots of coins that didn't need cleaning.

 

Water is a solvent. When you start with water from a well in to a shelf of limestone as is common in many places, the solvent properties of the water are already partly full. What it is full of depends on where you are. Some people sell their well water because it contains so many dissolved minerals. When cleaning coins we want to fill up all those little solvent opportunities with minerals currently on our coins. Starting with distilled water means you have more room for coin crust minerals. Changing the DW every so often means you go back to 'full power' in terms of how much room there is for more minerals. DW is cheap. Do as you must.

People who make their living buying ancient coins from the people who find them have developed a 'feel' for telling what is under the crud and whether it will come out as a coin worth having. The ones they believe are worth cleaning get cleaned and sorted into good and not so good. Coins that they make a mistake on allow people like us to find a decent coin every so often but this is like going to the dentist and hoping he will miss that cavity in your front tooth. They are pros and feed their families deciding which coins are good. Whether you are happy with what you get depends on two things: Did you have fun playing in the water? Are the coins you got the sort of thing you would have bought already cleaned because they were attractive, interesting or whatever? Many of us have tried; some of us had fun; more of us decided to buy coins we can see. Many people buy lottery tickets. Some become millionaires; more have fun looking at the numbers.

 

That's really great, and it sounds very fun. I think you're right, that ancient collectors connect knowledge and things with their coins more than any other area of coin collecting. For that, I am hooked into ancients.

I definitely got some slugs! I heard that term while learning about the "soaking technique." I will post the pictures of the others soon.

 

Thanks for that. I did not think so far into the science behind it, but now that you say that well or spring (I used the spring water) is already slightly saturated. While reading up, I was wondering why people said they changed out the DW. The reason I didn't use DW was because I just haven't been to the store recently, and I figured the sooner I start the better (even with somewhat pre-saturated water)! I know that with uncleaned coins you get what you pay for, and I did not pay a lot for this. I think any finder would pull out any denarii or aurei, I would! Still, knowing I am not going to win the lottery or anything, I think it is fun to unearth even the common coins.

 

Any reason you don't want to use distilled water? You can buy gallon containers of it cheaply at most supermarkets and drugstores, or you can order it online even more cheaply.

 

Since some people wanted to see the rest of the batch, here you go! Most of them are hard to read. The first coin is the one I posted on the countermarked thread (see first post in this thread). I like the last one, it has a hole! Some of them showed some more details when the light hit them from the side, so there are 4 pictures of those ones.

I posted this one on the countermarked thread:

This one looks like it has a sideways candelabra or menorah:


I swear I've seen an ancient coin with a design that looked like this obverse:



There is still dirt on this one, but I don't think it is in the way of the design. I like the "sandy patina," I believe it's called:



I like the hole in this one! I wonder if it was intentional or not.


Those are the others! I know they're probably not all identifiable, but even holding them and looking at them is amazing. Thinking about who held them a few thousand years ago and what they bought with them... it leaves me speechless!

I still am very open to comments, questions, concerns, stories, coin pics, or info. I love reading everything everyone has already sent on this thread. Ancient collectors are very willing to talk and share. It is just great!

 

But I can turn on my tap and get tap water. The government sets drinking water standards at 99.95%, and most places are better than that. Don't get me wrong, distilled water is preferable if only for a final rinse, but tap water isn't that bad!

 

I agree for everything EXCEPT cleaning coins. Tap water contains chlorine, which promotes bronze disease. Water is not a great solvent, it gets "full" of minerals quickly.

This time of year I say put a bucket under your AC runoff. Free distilled water!

 

Uh...salt (sodium chloride) dissolves up to 33%, that doesn't happen quickly, rinse with distilled, but tap is fine for soaking.

 

Problem is sir that the chlorine can start the reaction. I have seen uncleaned coins fine before, and after soaking in tap water half have BD. Maybe its a coincidence, but with distilled so cheap, (free today if you have an AC), why take that risk?

I knew someone who set up a system I was jealous of. He set up a bucket for all AC runoff, threw the coins in there, let the runoff overrun the bucket into a drain and simply stirred every other day. It worked great actually. Long term soaking of fresh distilled water is the safest way to clean, and if its refreshed all of the time very effective.

 

I wouldn't mind using distilled water. I have not been to the store in a little while, and I am not sure when I will be. I will check it out online, though.

This is all really interesting input and I appreciate hearing everyone's discussion! I may have not made it very clear, but I used drinking water (spring water in this case) instead of tap water. I figured it might be a little bit more purified. I will check out the free distilled water from AC runoff! That would be awesome!

 

If it is "spring water", it has all the contaminants that natural water would have including minerals and fish poo If it is AC runoff, it has dust, oil and whatever else was in the AC. Tap water is analyzed and you know what it contains. Admittedly it has chloride in it, that's why I said rinse with distilled (or pat/blot it off so it is no longer on the coin).

 

Interesting. I thought about the dust and oil in the AC runoff. Maybe I will try multiple types of water in the future and compare.

How long do you guys suggest I leave them in there?

 

What you are trying to accomplish with water is to have the water absorb some minerals from the coins. Then you can mechanically loosen, (scrape) further. You need to change the water often, as at a very low level water becomes saturated with minerals.

Regarding oil or dust, remember this is water from the air condensing on the A coil in a closed system. Unless you have a bad filter there should be no dust, and no oil should be anywhere near this part of your system, as no moving parts are anywhere around it. Any residual oil from installation would be gone long after the first season.

Anyway, we can agree to disagree @Kentucky. The reason we have boards is discuss differences. I do love hearing others opinions.