OK so my selections of this design are starting to come in, which I hope will make a nice present This has lovely deep color
I am actually quite pleased with this pick up. This coin is much nicer than I thought it would be and it will go great with the Silver coin when I get it to make a set! There is something going about the R, I am not sure what that is. Maybe I should consider doing some minor conservation work on it before I give it away?
Unless you know exactly what you are doing and have done it many times on other copper pieces I would do no more than stabilize the coin by a distilled water soak. Depending on your experience level that may be all you can do.
I agree with Razz. It also wouldn't hurt to roll a Q-tip over the area, (no rubbing) then re soak and air dry.
It's not worth the risk. I have used virgin olive oil to restore old coins, coins that have environmental damage. it will soften encrusted areas on the surface. Distilled water is as far as I would go with this one.
I also really like this coin, especially since I've had the pleasure of visiting Uruguay. When I bought mine a few years ago, the seller included this interesting card with no explanation. I don't know anything about it and the seller didn't mention a thing. It was a nice surprise in any case. I also second the already mentioned cautions about doing any conservation on the coin. You don't want to inadvertently do anything to it that ends up being irreversible.
It has a lot of symbolism in the coin. It is one of the greatest abstract art designs ever done on a coin. I would put it in MOMA.