Question about Olive Oil mon Coins

I don't remember exactly but think I just tossed a roll of new pennies into a cup with olive oil and let it soak for a few weeks. Like coins in a hoard, most touched directly with each other and were comparatively less exposed than the outer ones.

Well, as in every science experiment this one can be repeated by anyone who wants to. Take some shiny new coppers, drench 'em in some cheap olive oil from the grocery store and leave them there by the window sill for a few weeks and see what happens :- )

Rasiel

 

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Linseed oil? I have never run into that one for cleaning or preserving bronze coinage. I'll have to research that one. Any other posters ever try linseed as a preservative?

 

Lots of time an oil soak will change the dark surface color of a bronze coin to a much lighter and unattractive "look."

 

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Yes, I have used it on bronze coins, never on anything other than low value AE coins where a little cleanup had more potential to help than hurt. The downside of this product - it has a strong unpleasant smell - like old fashioned shoe polish.

 

I've had uncleaned LRBs soaking in olive oil for up to 10 years, and yeah a small percentage (5-10%) cleaned up nicely after that decade soak. My major issue with the remaining majority has been removing the olive oil so that the distilled water treatment can be effective.

Once one removes the initial/easy gunk, I've found multi-month distilled water soaking to be more effective than olive oil.