Coin Conservation with Olive Oil?

Zasu Pitts was the inspiration for Olive Oyl, so I'm told.



Sorry, now back to our regularly scheduled thread...

 

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I'll reference @dougsmit on this since I don't see any Ancients guys responding, but I think I have seen many references in the Ancients Forum saying that olive oil darkens the coins...

 

You will also find it discussed in Wilmar Whites book Coin Chemistry.

The process can be sped up some by applying some gentle heating. You could also do the same with powdered sulfur and applying so heat. (do so indirectly by heating the sulfur and letting the fumes color the coin.) I would also suggest rinsing the coin with acetone or xylene first to remove and oils or surface contaminants so the fumes can act on the surfaces evenly.

 

I use a rather slow method with copper. I just lay the coin on my desk without a holder and handle it with my fingers every day. Over time the copper will turn to a darker brown color. No rubbing or friction, just touching.

 

I'm barely catching all this what's with the coin toning I thought you weren't supposed clean coins what is the reason for this conversation I still in the learning process

 

Hey, @Roy Vallejos see you've been on for awhile, but let me summarize some stuff. You aren't supposed to "clean" coins with techniques that will leave traces, but "conservation" of coins is perfectly alright. What distinguishes the two is being able to detect it. If you can't tell a coin has been cleaned, it hasn't. Now as to toning, some people love it and others can't stand it. For older copper coins that have collected lots of gunk, the removal of the gunk can leave the coin unnaturally bright. The idea is to restore a nice brown finish to improve the appearance of the coin.

 

Ok I'm starting to understand more of coin talk thank for that info .

 

An actual book called Coin Chemistry

 

I think there's been an evolution of thought and opinion concerning how to "properly" clean/conserve coins. The old time coin collectors used to say a cleaned silver coin was only worth melt value. If you look on Ebay you will see cleaned coins sell for very good money, far above melt. I don't think younger coin collectors are so concerned about a good looking coin having been cleaned. And in truth many dark toned silver coins look much better when they have been lightly cleaned/conserved.

 

Yes I'm not kidding. And it is readily available. I found several copies in the $12 - $13 range.