Alright, so whenever I receive ancient coins in the mail, I open the package, take the coin out of the flips, and marvel at it. But, before putting it into my collection, I gently wash it with water and dry it with a tissue, then I will come out and expose both it’s sides to the sun, and look at how the surfaces and the toning of the coin looks under natural sun-light! While it sounds silly, for me doing this creates another chapter for the coin, which spent hundreds if not thousands of years under dirt, and then recently being found, cleaned, and stored in the dealers/ex -collectors collection, and I just feel as if I’ve liberated the coin! (only to lock it up in my box).
Before putting it in my collection I leave it on my desk for a week or so, so I can observe it everytime I walk past it or I sit at my desk. But, uhm, I never wash it with water, unless it is necessary and then I use distilled water. I guess you only do this ritual for silver coins? For billon and bronze coins I would not do that if I was you, especially with tap water. Also, most paper tissues are acidic, I shouldn't use these as well.
Before I add any coin to my collection, I rent space on the International Space Station and send the coin up to it to circle the globe a few times. It sometimes takes a while to hitch a ride up to and back from the ISS, but I figure it's worth the wait because, if I ever sell my collection, I can say that every one of the coins have been in outer space.
In general I leave silver coins alone, unless it has horn silver. That I clean. Sometimes I put bronze coins in DW, if it has some waxy surface or green spots. If the green flakes off, I pick them all off with a pick of some kind. I keep all my coins in an easily reachable cabinet, in lindner display cases. I can access these and take them out if I want to.
My only ritual while unboxing a coin is to drink Yorkshire tea. I savour both the coin and the tea. It's quite relaxing.
My unboxing ritual includes sacrificing a white ox to Jupiter to ensure the coin wasn’t damaged in the shipping
I am trying to set a strict rule for new coins - try not to do anything to them. I had a bad habit, when I received a coin, something didn't look right, either a spot or a mark or something, so without having no clue what I was doing, I usually cleaned them in soap/tap water or put in olive oil or try to remove the deposit with a toothpick. In most cases I am under the impression I made the coin worse, either a change in color or a scratch that wasn't there or something related (OCD perhaps). And I spend the next days analyzing the coin and comparing with the original pictures, cursing. I admire the people who do a good job in cleaning coins (I saw some coins practically restored by collectors, in this forum) but I am not one of them - doing a good job I mean. That's a shame because I am not a beginner (generally speaking, not in ancient coins) but every time I tried to clean a coin or a banknote (yep, sometimes I have not so great ideas) I ruined them. After many bloopers, I try to follow a rule - I leave the coin exactly how it was when it reached me. If I don't like them, I don't buy them.
I have never cleaned a coin and never will. When I get a new coin, I place it on a soft mat in front of my computer. I first, enter it into my database. Each coin has an alphanumeric code, with different fields to identify the coin. I didn't start my database until 2006, so there are some empty spaces for some codes that I got prior to 2006. I love to fiddle with the information of my coins. I add or delete info. I have worked in various types of accounting for over 30 years. Staff Accountant, State Auditor, State Controller Staff Accountant, Internal Auditor for a major university, and my last job was the Controller for the SBI (State Bureau of Investigations) Over my career, I learned a great deal about the importance of details and to be sure of my disclosure. That's the reason that coin collecting is so much fun. I think there should be a legal department in ANA to help collectors that have problems. Anyway, that's my thought, and I'm sticking to it! Now There!!
When I'm feeling out of touch or somewhat depressed I turn to my collection, take out a few, look them over and walla, I am fine again and move on. Happy holidays everyone.
I’ll keep them on my desk for a few days to a few weeks depending on how enamored I am with the coin. This way I can look at it and hold it while working. Keeps me grounded to history and is something to look at other than emails or a spreadsheet.
The only thing I would add is that you should "spit" on it, adding your DNA to the nooks & crannies...
