Minus about a dozen easily-attributable coins that I picked out early, these are the "best of" of ~300 cheapie uncleaned coins I purchased in various small lots [primarily from eBay auctions] back in 2005-2006. Olive oil treament for over 10 years. I'm surprised at how clean and attributable many of them are -- ~40% overall from the orignal batch. (The biggest diameter coins, however, tend toward near-slugs.) Plus there's all kinds of variety I'm not seeing in current uncleaned lots! These coins have been rinsed and soaked w/soap and tap water a few times today to pull of the olive oil. Plan is to soak in distilled water w/weekly changes to really clean them off. After that, manual work. Does anyone happen to have recommendations and/or prior experience on cleaning off oil-soaked coins like this?
After soaking in oil, I boil coins in water with a detergent called alconox -- "Alconox is a non-corrosive, high foaming formula that can be used on metals. It’s the cleaner of choice because it rinses clean and will not leave a film residue behind on tools or equipment." A little goes a long way.
Thanks @Victor_Clark - very helpful. I have a couple of vials of coins resting in olive oil (for over two years) maybe your idea will lead to a breakthrough. So far, I have been too lazy to clean them up (toothpicks, dental pick, toothbrush, and so on). In previous efforts with limited olive oil soakings I have not been all that successful. I have learned to never use liquid descaler, which destroyed about 100 crusties of mine.
