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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;gsimonel, post: 2971203, member: 82549&quot;]I used to sell uncleaned coins many, many years ago. Here&#039;s a copy, edited slightly to remove all the out-of-date links, of the note that I used to include with the coins:</p><p><br /></p><p>Cleaning Ancient Roman Coins</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; The first thing to do when you receive your coins is to brush them off with a nylon bristle brush. An old toothbrush works well. If you cut the bristles down to half their original length it works even better. Inspect the coins after brushing them to see if any of them are now clean enough to identify. Chances are most, if not all of them, won’t be, but sometimes you get lucky. Assuming that your coins still need additional cleaning, soak the coins in tap water for a few minutes and then take them out and scrub them with the brush and a little dishwashing liquid and then rinse them well.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; Some coins may be identifiable that this point, but most coins will still require additional work. Although there are many different approaches that people take to cleaning ancient coins, I have had the most success with long-term soaks in distilled water. Distilled water is readily available at most supermarkets or department stores. It is better than tap water, spring water or bottled drinking water because the lack of minerals in it makes it draw out mineral build-up on the coins. It is cheap, and a gallon is enough to clean hundreds of coins. I usually let coins sit in a cup of distilled water for a week or so and then take them out, scrub them using dishwashing liquid, rinse them off and, if needed, put them back in a fresh batch of distilled water.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; Patience is your most important ally in cleaning coins. Although some coins will clean up very nicely after one or two soaks, with others you may need to repeat this process for several months. I have heard of people who have taken as long as two <i>years </i>to clean a coin using this method, but they have been very satisfied with the results. Still, there are a few tricks that, if used carefully, can help speed up the cleaning process. One handy piece of equipment is a small brass bristle brush. You can usually find these at hardware stores for around $2.00.&nbsp; Check the patina (the outing coating of surface metal oxides that accumulate over the centuries) carefully before using brass or silver bristle brushes because some patinas are very soft and can be damaged. <u>Never</u> use a steel bristle brush on any coins—it will scratch them—and never use a brass bristle brush on silver coins, for the same reason. Another helpful technique is to design you own brass tools. Brass rods are usually available fairly cheaply from most hobby stores. It is easy to file the end of a brass rod into a point with a sharpening stone. It can then be used to pick dirt out from inside small crevices and between the letters of uncleaned coins. Brass tools can be especially helpful if you use them under magnification with a jeweler’s loupe or low powered stereomicroscope.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; There are many other methods that hard-core uncleaned Roman coin cleaners (often called bottom-feeders) use. Cleaners are always experimenting with different liquids like WD-40, olive oil, Oxy-clean and Kaboom, but I’ve found repeated soaking in distilled water followed by scrubbing with dishwashing liquid the most effective.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; Extremely stubborn or encrusted coins can sometimes be cleaned using electrolysis. If you use the terms “ancient coins electrolysis” to search the Internet you can find information about creating your own electrolysis setup.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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