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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GDJMSP, post: 535255, member: 112&quot;]Not true at all, I for one am definitely not anti-cleaning. What I am is against people who don&#039;t know what they are doing cleaning coins. This is kind of the point that RickieB was trying to make.</p><p><br /></p><p>Toad - using tomato juice and a toothbrush is harmful to the coins. The tomato juice is acid that eats aways at the entire coin, not just the verdigris on the coins. It eats away the unaffected areas too. And the toothbrush imparts fine scratches to the entire coin. Sure it works, but <b>that is not conservation</b> - that is harsh cleaning.</p><p><br /></p><p>Conservation is removing the verdigris, or any other contaminant, <b>without</b> harming the coin !</p><p>This is the point that all too many people fail to realize.</p><p><br /></p><p>There are untold numbers of home remedies out there that will remove contaminants from coins. But the question you have to ask yourself is - will these remedies harm the coin ? Almost without exception the answer is definitely YES - they will harm the coin. So they should never be used.</p><p><br /></p><p>Your intentions may be noble, but you know what they say about intentions. Without knowledge to go along with them, intentions most often do more harm than good.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now Mike and Thad may be correct in their assertions that verdigris will not continue to eat away at coins as long as the coins kept away from moisture, I honestly don&#039;t know for certain.</p><p><br /></p><p>But what I do know for certain is that it is all but impossible to stop any moisture at all from reaching a coin. The only way possible would be to seal the coin in a 100% airtight container. That is the only thing there is that would stop any and all humidity from reaching the coin. Reducing humidity, which can be done, will not stop the reaction but merely slow it down. So it is my contention that verdigrs must be removed in order to protect a coin from additional damage.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now verdigone seems to be a product that WILL do this. Based on what I have seen in Jim&#039;s experiments it will change the patina of the coin. But other than that it apparently does nothing else than what it is intended to do - remove the verdigris. It may well be the best solution.</p><p><br /></p><p>But what you are doing Toad - that is just wrong. It is harmful to the coins. Perhaps even more harmful than doing nothing at all.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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