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<p>[QUOTE="Nathan B., post: 7912160, member: 112852"]Thank you for those insights. I have two very basic follow-up question for you. </p><p><br /></p><p>First, when you refer to "sodium hydroxide" is that something that is pure? I went to my local hardware store, and the closest I could come was a bottle of drain cleaner crystals ("Drano" brand). The label says "contains sodium hydroxide," which to me implies that this is not pure sodium hydroxide. Can you tell me if you think this will work?</p><p><br /></p><p>My second question is, how do you put the coin into the sodium hydroxide? Do you mix the crystals with water (assuming that won't blow something up!) or do you just put the coin straight into the crystals?</p><p><br /></p><p>At this point, I have got a few coins on the go, all looking quite terrible!</p><p><br /></p><p>Coin #1 I put in olive oil as per the dealer's recommendation before coming to this thread. I don't have a photo of that here.</p><p><br /></p><p>Coin #2, which is the coin in the original pictures, looks like a metallic piece of, well, I'm not supposed to finish that sentence. I tried electrolysis on it as per gsimonel's recommendation. I had too much trouble stripping the very fine positive and negative wires, so my brother did something for me.</p><p><br /></p><p>I think this coin may be too far gone even for electrolysis. It's very small and black now, and has lost a lot of its mass (guck, or guck and surface?--I don't know). I'm going to keep trying because I don't think any design elements are visible yet. In any case, electrolysis is fun! I like the sizzle and the way the water changes to thick black stuff! If it ever gets better, I'll post a pic here of each side. And if it doesn't, no harm done; the coins were cheap and this one is a lost cause, I believe.</p><p><br /></p><p>Coin #3 is the second coin shown above. I'm not really sure what to do now that I've got it to the state it's in. Perhaps I've done too much and there's nothing further to do. Or maybe I need to give it more time in the water. </p><p><br /></p><p>Coin #4, I haven't shown yet, but once I figure out this sodium hydroxide stuff, then I will try that on it.</p><p><br /></p><p>After that, I will still have nine coins left, but it seems to me that they are all extremely low grade and probably won't really turn out well in any case.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Nathan B., post: 7912160, member: 112852"]Thank you for those insights. I have two very basic follow-up question for you. First, when you refer to "sodium hydroxide" is that something that is pure? I went to my local hardware store, and the closest I could come was a bottle of drain cleaner crystals ("Drano" brand). The label says "contains sodium hydroxide," which to me implies that this is not pure sodium hydroxide. Can you tell me if you think this will work? My second question is, how do you put the coin into the sodium hydroxide? Do you mix the crystals with water (assuming that won't blow something up!) or do you just put the coin straight into the crystals? At this point, I have got a few coins on the go, all looking quite terrible! Coin #1 I put in olive oil as per the dealer's recommendation before coming to this thread. I don't have a photo of that here. Coin #2, which is the coin in the original pictures, looks like a metallic piece of, well, I'm not supposed to finish that sentence. I tried electrolysis on it as per gsimonel's recommendation. I had too much trouble stripping the very fine positive and negative wires, so my brother did something for me. I think this coin may be too far gone even for electrolysis. It's very small and black now, and has lost a lot of its mass (guck, or guck and surface?--I don't know). I'm going to keep trying because I don't think any design elements are visible yet. In any case, electrolysis is fun! I like the sizzle and the way the water changes to thick black stuff! If it ever gets better, I'll post a pic here of each side. And if it doesn't, no harm done; the coins were cheap and this one is a lost cause, I believe. Coin #3 is the second coin shown above. I'm not really sure what to do now that I've got it to the state it's in. Perhaps I've done too much and there's nothing further to do. Or maybe I need to give it more time in the water. Coin #4, I haven't shown yet, but once I figure out this sodium hydroxide stuff, then I will try that on it. After that, I will still have nine coins left, but it seems to me that they are all extremely low grade and probably won't really turn out well in any case.[/QUOTE]
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Cleaning my first ancient coin: surfaces question
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