Looking for help on how I can clean this medal????

Hello,

I am looking for help on how to clean this medal. One side looks fine and the other side is a GREEN mess. I know that most say never to clean a medal/coin/token but this one I would like to. I plan on holding onto this medal for years to come. I have no idea what it is made of and am not wanting to take away from the wording on it. I came across it by pure luck and the person I bought it from knows nothing about it. I really don't care if its worth a penny or more.. to me it is worth something. I would love to hear any sugestions.. I really don't know what to do with it. The green that is growing??? on it or is just simply on it, has a rough texture it that helps at all. Again I am would love to hear any sugestions and am sorry I really don't know what it is made of. It is the size of a silver dollar and a complete green mess is really all I can tell you.
Thanks in advance,
Shawni

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

acetone maybe

 

.

.

 

Thank you for responding! I was afraid that no one would help me because I was looking for help with doing the unthinkable (cleaning a medal). It is really hard to research cleaning something when you don't know what your cleaning(metal) and you don't know what you are trying to take off (green stuff). I am hoping to have time to mess with it this weekend. If so I will post a new picture wether good or bad.. not a whole lot to lose being that I plan on keeping it anyways. Do you think I should soak it or maybe just wip it with a cloth that is soaked in acetone? Again thank you for responding! Best wishes

 

That medal looks to be made of bronze. Try acetone but only soak, and rinse. DO NOT WIPE! There is a fine line between cleaning and conservation. Adding friction to the equation in the form of wiping is considered HARSHLY cleaning.

 

I agree with what the other said. Soak it in acetone. The green will come off! I have had to do it many times for pvc damage.

 

I read somewhere that if you slit a raw potato, and place the coin in the slit overnight, that the starch in the potato will pull a great deal of the gunk off. I don't know for sure as I've never tried this method. Might be worth a shot......

 

Hum a potato, I think I will try the acetone spa treatment. If that fails I am turning to the potato. Thanks for sharing if ever I should have one to try the potato method on I will share with you. It makes since. To bad I don't have two so that I can try both ideas and see which one has the best out come. Thanks for keeping an eye out for me. Also I did see one of your Eagles.. great photo, to go with a great coin.

 

Thank you for the detailed advice. I really was considering wip'n it. When I soak it, for how long should I soak it? Or should I watch it min by min and pull when I feel it is good?

 

How long would you say to soak it? Kevo stated that I should NOT wip it which I duly noted and will NOT be doing. Thank you for the help!

 

Acetone it is! I will let you know how it goes. Best wishes,
Shawni

 

Soak it overnight , but make sure you use pure acetone and NOT fingernail polish remover and rinse in distilled water

 

'Jester is right about the pure stuff. If you're gonna use acetone, use the pure stuff and then, follow with the distilled water rinse. You can leave it in (acetone) over nite, or longer if you wish, with no ill effects.....


Oh......did catch your comments on my reverse Eagle Shawni. Very kind of you.....

 

Great.. I bought some acetone a few week's back when my son had a can of spray paint exploded on the side of the house. The people at Home Depot told me that I need to use paint thinner not, acetone because the paint was mostly on the concrete. I plan on putting the medal in a glass bowl and soaking it today once the kids leave for school.. can't wait to see the end result! I will post another scan tomorrow. Thank you all again

 

I'm interested to see the result of this, I have a silver coin that (seemingly) has some of the same looking green stuff on it, I was going to try a soak in acetone but haven't had time to get to the store to get some!

 

Make sure you cover the acetone so it doesn't evaporate.

If acetone doesn't work, it's gotta be verdigris, and in that case, I'd pick up some verdicare from wizard coin supply.

 

I started soaking about an hour ago... I will keep you posted. I don't believe my medal is silver but should have the same affect as long as silver is okay to soak in acetone (which of course.. I really don't know). So much to learn. Wish I had more time/money to invest with this hobby. I have truly enjoyed the experence so far.

 

What is the composition? It appears to be verdigris. Acetone will not remove verdigris, VERDI-CARE will safely remove verdigris.

 

I have no idea what the composition is. Someone on the site thought maybe bronze.

 

Ah thank you. Someone else stated that it could be verdigris. Thanks for stating that I needed to cover the glass, I had not but just did