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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Drusus, post: 168883, member: 6370&quot;]If you want my advice...</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Take them first and put them in some hot water with a bit of dish washing soap...let them soak for just a bit...not that long...half an hour to an hour. Keep the water hot and soapy...</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>If when you pull them out the dirt is not coming off by rubbing them with your finger, still very crusty with no detail...it would be okay to use a soft brass brush...otherwise I would use a short bristled toothbrush (cut the bristles down a bit.) if there is detail showing through, with the tough brush you risk scrapeing the coin.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Now I prefer soaking in Distilled water first before oil...simply because if the water isnt working you can use the oil...but cant go the other way around...once a coin has been soaking in oil...water will be pretty ineffective.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>If I see a good area where I can pick off crust (crust starts to lossen unevenly sometimes giving you edges to pick and pry at) I use a dental pick as you say...some would also recommend a diamond tipped tool but I dont think that is really needed.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Let your coins soak for a good long time...days or even months...in distilled water or oil...once in awhile its okay to pull them out...give them a scrub with some soap and little by little you might see the dirt coming off...</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>If in a year or 2 its still super crusty, there are other methods but I wouldnt recommend them unless you know what you are doing as you could ruin your coin completely...its best to take the time...some will start showing progress quickly, others takes month or more than a year...</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Certainly dont expect the best coins but I have found a few gems the dealer missed while picking out the choice ones and you are better off with the REAL crusty ones because they are a bit hard to cull when they cant see the details under the crust.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I would stop when you start to hit patina...going further will expose what is often an ugly pitted surface</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>examples:</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><img src="http://www.tribalsoup.com/cache/constantiusII.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>This coin was cleaned just right...it was very crusty but the dirt is almost completely gone but a nice patina remains...some might say a little metal is showing through on the peaks but its so little, I dont mind at all...this came out just right.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><img src="http://www.tribalsoup.com/cache/constatine02.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>This coin IMO was overcleaned...its cleaned down to the pitted ugly surface and I think if it was cleaned a bit more carefully there is enough detail in this coin that with a nice patina it would have been rather nice...as it is...its a mess.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The only time I go down to the metal is if the detail is SO flattened that I know after carefull study that the only way I might even get a bit of detail at all is to go down to the metal...the almost slugs...If you can see detail...dont go down to the metal if you can help it.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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