I have a coulple of old, roman coins that have been sitting in olive oil for over a year. now what? How do i clean them? they are nearly worthless, you can only see the detail a little bit. any help is helpful. thanks
Soft toothbrush to clean further. Or if you have the coin in what you think is its best potential, then rinse in mild soapy water, and then a quick dip in rubbing alcohol. Let air dry, and then you're all set.
Way out of your league, BNB. I'd recommend starting with a toothbrush and all that as described. But most likely, these coins won't improve much. I usually caution against buying uncleaned coins, because you will almost certainly be disappointed with what you get. Unless you enjoy the mechanical pleasure of cleaning the coins (something I equate with the fun of picking scabs, lol) then this probably is not the part of the hobby for you. Can you post some pics?
do you want the pictures to be of the coins cleaned or uncleaned? (I have not claned them yet) I also have a batch that was sitting in distilled water. i was changing it every week, but i kinda forgot about it. I will take a toothbrush to both of them.
I agree with Ardatirion. A major part of the uncleaned coin hobby is learning to differentiate between cleanable uncleaned coins and hopeless ones to be sold to people who don't know the difference. Of course there are many people who take pride in being able to clean coins that I would consider uncleanable but that is not where you start in the uncleaned hobby. There is great reward in being able to save a beautiful coin from a lump of corrosion but there is also potential frustration. Inside every $1 uncleaned coin dos NOT lurk a valuable prize. Start by buying cleaned coins; move up to slightly dirty coins that you are sure you can help; graduate to big jobs in the hope for occasional miracles and ocassional failures. I have been collecting coins for 45+ years and am in phase two of the above suggestion. You may learn faster.
This advice is very good, and can be generalized to most collectibles as follows: Start by buying what is guaranteed; move up to that which you are pretty sure about; graduate to educated and calculated risks. If I had followed said advice when I first started collecting I would have saved lots of time, money, and heartache. Unfortunately I think most of us learn the hard way :/ Ben
Hey, congrats on your first attempt at curating. Even olive oil is a tiny bit acidic. I think a month is as long as I would soak. Clean up your coin with a soft toothbrush. Then ionize the coin to try to bring out some detail. As you learn how to curate, you will destroy some coins, but as you learn and experiment you will get better. Best of luck ! Traci :kewl:
'Electroysis?' Hair removal for coins? There are many ways to ruin perfectly good coins and cleaning using electric current is a controversial one. Yes, I have seen some coins improved that way but I've seen more trashed. It goes back to the idea of needing to learn to look at coins and deciding when to act and when to just walk away.
I have tried electrolysis on different things before, but never on coins. I have done copper electroplating on quarters though. maybe tomorrow i will try it.
Don't read more into my post that a definition of what Ripley was trying to suggest. I am not recommending that you try electrolysis nor am I against it. This is just not my field in coins, but I am familiar with the electrolysis process.
