I'm going to take the plunge and try cleaning some ancients - looking for any advice

Since we have some experienced ancients-type people reading this, I wanted to ask a question about a technique I read about. Someone was suggesting freezing the coins and then dumping them into boiling water and letting the thermal shock clean off some of the layered stuff. Has anyone ever tried this?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Sounds like a good way to shatter a lot of coins. No, I haven't heard of this method.

 

I was wondering about that. If there was enough metal left, it would contract and expand much more and much faster than the matrix material surrounding it, but then again, it might shatter.

 

Shoot. I remember (about two years ago) when I told the ancient guys not to clean their coins. Boy oh boy did I get a drubbing and an eye opening experience..........

 

Well, I would expect after a couple of thousand years buried in the ground you might need a little sprucing up yourself.

 

They beat me bloody Chris........

 

Serves you right, you snobby US "don't touch your coins or the coin fairy will crap in your Cheerios".

Best part of coin collecting is getting a connection with it, best way to do that is to actually, (avert your eyes modern collectors), HOLD IT.

 

Love ya Chris.......LOL

 

I've read about the heating and freezing and it can shatter coins and there is another extremely bad side effect as well although I don't recall at the moment.

Basically, if the standard treatments of brushing and distilled water/olive oil soaks are just flat out not going to work (say like six months gets you nowhere) you have four options:

1. Give up on the coin.
2. Electrolysis - will probably get the concrete off but will probably remove the patina as well. This one is highly debated, somewhat similar to cleaning modern coins. Although some people argue on the side of electrolysis is ok - no one argues cleaning is ok.
3. Lye and water - will probably get the concrete off. Will probably kill some of the patina and metal of the coin too. Will possibly burn your skin and also can permanently blind you. This has a better chance of leaving the coin in better shape than electrolysis but can also permanently scar you.
4. Let a bunch of junk coins gather up and get your mad scientist on...Distilled water as an alternative to olive oil was discovered relatively recently so it's not like this is a fully explored scientific niche.

The other options (rock tumbers, ultrasonic cleansers, etc.) all have negative side effects and don't work as well as #2 or #3.

Again this is just from my research not personal experience so some of it could be wrong.

 

Distilled water is not new. It was my preferred method. THe science is that water will grab minerals readily, so if you pure water without minerals in it, is will dissolve the minerals over time.

Biggest thing about using distilled water is:

1. Change the water frequently
2. Never let the water evaporate down to where the coins are exposed.

 

By new I meant in the last 15 or so years, but again I could be wrong.

As far as I could tell, the best method is to change the water daily and lightly brush them each day. Should I dry them while they are out of the water and I am brushing them? Also can I place them on a paper towel while I am preparing new water / working on the other ones? I can put them all in the same glass right?

I've read when you are done soaking them they need to be dried as moisture is bad. What should I do to dry them? I'm wary of just rubbing with a paper towel etc. Hair dryer good?

 

No need to dry them until you are done with them. When you are done, you can just let them air dry. The best time to do this method is the summer, where you can get free distilled water from dehumidifiers and air conditioners.