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<p>[QUOTE="otlichnik, post: 5292381, member: 109731"]I agree that it is best to do little unless you are 100% sure of your skills.</p><p><br /></p><p>That said, brushing with a toothbrush should do no harm to any coin. The only exceptions being where the surface is already crumbling - the dread green powdery surface - or where a poor quality fake patination product has been applied. Those are also generally the only types that might suffer from some normal water.</p><p><br /></p><p>If you have concerns about either "bad-surface" scenario above, you can do a few things before using the toothbrush:</p><p><br /></p><p>- rub with your thumb and then check thumb for stains and coin for any bare metal being revealed or flakes coming off,</p><p><br /></p><p>- repeat with a cloth, check cloth and coin,</p><p><br /></p><p>- brush gently with a normal toothbrush - for a normal toothbrush you can brush when the coin is dry,</p><p><br /></p><p>- brush with a stiffer toothbrush - i.e. the bristles trimmed down to 1/2 length with scissors, this can be done wet or dry. At this stage a bit of spit (I know, gross!) or even normal dish soap can be used - as long as you rinse with plain water, or better yet distilled water after.</p><p><br /></p><p>While these steps are safe on almost every coin, they also frankly do little to remove anything but surface dirt, and often won't remove the dirt that has been on for centuries - (that is because such dirt often begins to chemically bond with surface corrosion products, but that is another story).</p><p><br /></p><p>Another idea that is just as harmless but can really assist, is to use a silver-bristle brush. These are like brass brushes but the bristles are made of silver and so much softer. They are hard to find - I bought several in person in Europe years ago but haven't been able to find a supplier online - and expensive - in the 20 Euro range due to the silver content. I have used them on thousands of coins and never seen any damage - unless, as above, the surface is already cracking or powder. But be careful to find brushes with silver-bristles - not/not simply brushes advertised for cleaning silver, which are often soft brass.</p><p><br /></p><p>SC[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="otlichnik, post: 5292381, member: 109731"]I agree that it is best to do little unless you are 100% sure of your skills. That said, brushing with a toothbrush should do no harm to any coin. The only exceptions being where the surface is already crumbling - the dread green powdery surface - or where a poor quality fake patination product has been applied. Those are also generally the only types that might suffer from some normal water. If you have concerns about either "bad-surface" scenario above, you can do a few things before using the toothbrush: - rub with your thumb and then check thumb for stains and coin for any bare metal being revealed or flakes coming off, - repeat with a cloth, check cloth and coin, - brush gently with a normal toothbrush - for a normal toothbrush you can brush when the coin is dry, - brush with a stiffer toothbrush - i.e. the bristles trimmed down to 1/2 length with scissors, this can be done wet or dry. At this stage a bit of spit (I know, gross!) or even normal dish soap can be used - as long as you rinse with plain water, or better yet distilled water after. While these steps are safe on almost every coin, they also frankly do little to remove anything but surface dirt, and often won't remove the dirt that has been on for centuries - (that is because such dirt often begins to chemically bond with surface corrosion products, but that is another story). Another idea that is just as harmless but can really assist, is to use a silver-bristle brush. These are like brass brushes but the bristles are made of silver and so much softer. They are hard to find - I bought several in person in Europe years ago but haven't been able to find a supplier online - and expensive - in the 20 Euro range due to the silver content. I have used them on thousands of coins and never seen any damage - unless, as above, the surface is already cracking or powder. But be careful to find brushes with silver-bristles - not/not simply brushes advertised for cleaning silver, which are often soft brass. SC[/QUOTE]
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