My Last Batch of Uncleans

I will say this based on your picture some of your coins seem to have a fair nice bit of details (ie. will definitely not turn out to be cull coins) and may actually end up being about F+ to aVF grade. I think I even notice a few 3rd century crisis era/tetrarchy coins mixed in with what seem to be the standard Constantine era coins you usually get in uncleaned lots . If that's the case, you may be able to sell the ones you don't want to keep and maybe turn a moderate profit. Heck, if you turn up a Gallic imperial or a nice Aurelian or Probus you don't want to keep, PM me. Even a Constantine II or other sons of Constantine might interest me (and I'm sure you'll have your fare share of them when you are done cleaning that lot.)

 

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Looks like a lot of fun. Regardless of what one finds, I think that coin cleaning is a fun and relaxing thing to do. I need to see about finding a new batch.

As rough as it is, I think the coolest thing (though not the most attractive thing) that I've found in an uncleaned lot is this coin bearing the countermark of Claudius, probably a semis. It's better looking in hand than in the photo. Wish I had a before photo, it was extremely encrusted and required heavy cleaning with a dental pick and brush.


22mm, 4.74g, countermarked TI·C·A for (Ti)berius (C)laudius (A)ugustus;

 

If you don't mind me asking @ancient coin hunter Can you please post about how you clean your coins. I'm thinking about buying some uncleaned coins however I don't have the slightest clue of how to clean them. Thanks for your time.

 

Thanks @Sallent - I'll keep it mind that you are interested if any of them turn out to be of collectible quality...

 

Hi.

I am a fairly basic cleaner. First of all I soak them in distilled water for a couple of days, then I remove loose debris with a toothbrush. For the ones that show immediate promise I then rub a bit of dishwashing liquid on the coin between the fingers under warm water in the tap. Sometimes that works out OK.

For the tougher ones I soak them in an olive oil bath for a couple of weeks then I remove the crud with a toothbrush and a dental pick. This works OK as well.

There's some other techniques such as electrolysis but that I've heard can sometimes damage coins. For really tough encrustrations you can get a dremel, a kind of high speed drill and remove the stuff, but you have to be careful. I personally haven't used a dremel. Sometimes liquid descaler is recommended for the really bad ones but I tried this once and had bad results, removal of patina and so forth.

Usually culls (featureless slugs or those coins that cannot be saved) I just put in a jar and keep them.

 

If they are somewhat recognizable, they make excellent gifts to children or to people who aren't otherwise collectors.

As far as cleaning goes, good advice. Start as gently as possible, and get progressively rougher. Sometimes you might have to get downright brutal with the worst of them, but usually there isn't going to be much good underneath those.

I would add that applying either Elmer's Glue or hot glue and then pulling it off can be effective at removing hard mineral deposits that don't respond to any other cleaning, but that should also fall into the last resort category.

 

Hmmm...I've never tried the glue method, just might work...

 

The hot glue method... it just struck me that I have a coin someone must've tried that on. It's a potin tet from Egypt, part of a large lot. One had white plastic-like stuff in the crevices. It's still there. I don't think applying another blob of hot glue to get out the original glue would be a good idea. The coin is so porous that it would probably pull off large chunks of fragile metal.

If I can find a picture I'll edit this post.

Edited to add: Found an old and awful picture of the coin but it gets the point across.

 

@TIF, I can’t speak for hot glue, but just a soak in water for an hour or so always softens Elmer’s so that it comes right off with a little brushing. Definitely looks like glue.

I’ve never had patina come off, unless there was bronze disease beneath it. It might come off if done in excess, but I’ve learned to know when to stop (or they’re hopeless to begin with).

 

Thanks @SeptimusT - I think I'll try elmer's on some of these and compare how they come out vs. olive oil bath.

 

Just keep in mind it's mostly effective with harder deposits, things that don't come off well otherwise. I haven't really tried it for dirt/softer deposits. I start with a dry brushing first, and get progressively rougher.