It's been a little while since I've posted any of my recent cleans, hadn't had the time to sit down and properly work on them until recently. So here are a few new ones! Hope everyone has been doing well in the new year!
I tend to use orthodontic tools and a bunch of tools ive actually made for myself randing from bamboo picks to safety pins and other weird items hahaha.
I have some uncleaned that look like what you started with. I have some orthodontic tools but im way to nervous that I will scratch the patina and/or destroy the coin.
That is perfectly understandable, I would recommend starting with bamboo picks or some wooden skewers from Walmart. I tend to dip mine in distilled water for about 5 minutes then slowly start working away at it with the wooden pieces first to see what amount of dirt and gunk I can remove. From there I do very light metal working, rule of thumb is the harder the tool you use the more gentle the touch. At times I will simply drag the orthodontic tools over and see what I can gradually scrape, key note if it gets caught on something do not tug on it. It could be patina, instead back off that spot and try and work around it slowly to see if you can reveal whats really underneath.
Pretty much the process I use. I have cleaned and cataloged over a hundred in the past year or so. I think the most important comment you made was to stop if you have any restriction. It could be patina or a hidden detail such as a dot that could identify the variation of the coin. If I am able to identify the basic coin, I will find it on line and print an example to use as I am cleaning. Post more as you get them cleaned. They are very interesting.
I forgot to add one more piece. In the same sense that different areas and dirt will create different variations of color in patina. It will also create different strengths of patina. I have had some coins with strong patina that even with small pressure they will not crack or chip and then I have had others where I can just look at it the wrong way and it will break apart. This doesn't mean you are necessarily doing anything wrong, it could just be weak. Do not let this discourage you and as Inspector43 said the more you work with them hands on the more experience you will get. You will be able to decipher this more easily.
Well done! This was my most recent (chemical) cleaning project: Note the depositions of horn silver (silver chloride) mainly on the obverse in the dotted border. The cleaning marks on the two figures (obverse) and the fantastic beast (reverse) are prominently visible. The coin was treated with sodium thiosulphate, which dissolves the silver chlorides. As a positive side effect, it leaves a very thin layer grey layer of Na3[Ag(S2O3)2], which is very similar to the 'cabinet toning'. In this specific cleaning, this thin layer fills the microscopic scratches resulting in an overall more appealing coin. It should be noted that this is not the same as repationation (i.e. applying a patina), but merely the side effect of dissolving harmful chlorides. The total process took about 60 seconds. This is a coin that was more difficult to clean, and I'm not 100% happy how it turned out. Both the obverse and reverse once had a thick black patina, that was roughly cleaned by the previous owner, showing sharp demarcations of the underlying silver and the black patina. The coin probably looked rather nice with a complete patina. I used the same method as outlined above, however, this coin required some mechanical cleaning. I used a stiff brush (non-metal) and small metal tools (similar to OP). Unfortunately, the metal was somewhat brittle and small parts chipped of (see 11 o'clock on obverse), causing a ragged flan. Overall, the coin improved, but I was very unhappy with side effects.
Nice cleaning jobs on those coins. I found dental picks useful as well, being stronger than toothpicks.
You did a fine job getting most of the scratches to not be visible on that top coin. I love your coins.
That's pretty cool. Where are you that you find these? I'm not asking specifics just what state. I grew up in Northern Michigan. We live in the out in the country where there wasn't any development yet. We used to find Indian artifacts.
With mechanical cleaning it is very useful to have magnification with good light. Then you can work on the square millimeter!
I tend to buy mine off ebay, no particular seller really. I just spend hours and hours staring at a picture before I decide on one.
I lived in a rural area in artifact country for many years. Have boxes full of artifacts. Very enjoyable and virtually cost free.
I tend to use a combination of harsh chemicals and dental tools for cleaning. I try to avoid chemicals, but sometimes you can't avoid it. Philip here could have never seen any hope of recovery without sodium hydroxide, sodium thiosulfate, and acetic acid. Sometimes the sodium hydroxide doesn't do it all, so you take the dental pick to finish it up.
So lucky, I wish I could do that, unfortunately I am in the states so not a lot of roman artifacts laying around here, specially here in Texas. Maybe one day I can travel out there and just have a look at least.
Nice results! I just did some cleaning on a couple coins that were delivered yesterday purchased from LAC on Vcoins. I got them (at ~25 GBP each) with the intention of working on them seeing that there was a better coin beneath. This GIII had a coating of dirt on it that was covering some of the detail on his face, legends, Abundantia, her cornucopia, and it's contents she's spilling... (Coins? Grain?) my first Abundantia. Before After This Nerva had a splattered coating of green crusty stuff and some odd maroon stuff. A couple little soaks in vinegar and some mild manual abrasive work, it dissolved and broke free. It looked like there is some more significant corrosion spots on obverse that I'm leaving alone, but the one on back appears to possibly be BD so I worked at cleaning that one out and will be keeping an eye on it. It has a cool (early?) Nerva portrait and the reverse type is fascinating. I can't quite tell which RIC it is due to the well worn obverse legend... Before After
I was born and raised in Iowa. I knew most every farmer. Arrowhead hunting was accepted. Then we moved to Texas where a persons dirt is their own and they won't let anyone on their land without paying for it. So, the arrowhead hunting days were over.