I know the feeling among most members is that "NO CLEANING SHOULD BE DONE" to any coin unless you're a grading service that does "CONSERVATION". But, there's GOT to be something that can be done to a coin (like the one in the attached photos) that would benefit from akin to a 'bath'. Any suggestions ... or, is any suggestion deemed anathema? ... punishable by public stoning? ?
I would try to re-tone it. Put it in one of those small orange yellow coin envelopes and forget about it for years. or Put it on a piece of wood near the window in the sunlight and leave it there.
Crust is thick enough that it may come loose in a ultrasonic cleaner. Use warm purified water, couple of drops of detergent, and a plastic basket. Rinse afterward with purified water. Coin is plain 5 variety by the way. Cal
That’s not a bad looking two center at all. I have an 1864 that was dug up near a river in Columbia South Carolina. Very near where it is known that General Sherman held an encampment on his March thru the south. It is in spectacular shape aside from the heavy crust where it lay wet for a hundred-twenty years. I been dying to clean that one up..... One enlightened CT member said to me that as it is, it’s a cool piece of civil war history. If I clean it up then it simply becomes just another problem coin. And that made good country sense to me..... Leave it as is. It’s a nice coin. Clean it and it becomes just another problem coin.
What can be done to make this coin more attractive? Sell the coin to somebody else and buy yourself a different one, one that isn't corroded. And no, it's not that I am against proper cleaning of coins. Far from it in fact, I am and always have been strongly in favor of proper cleaning for it helps to protect and prolong the life of the coins. But that coin, I'm afraid it's already corroded and if any proper cleaning done to it would only make it look worse than it does now.
Exactly that. I’ve sold raw problem coins on EBay, with photos accurately showing the problems, and have been pleasantly surprised how well they do at auction. Since this is a common coin with plenty of problem free examples available, I wouldn’t want to hold on to it.
Years ago on eBay there used to be a seller that would sell musical instruments using a barely clad young female holding the instrument.
Years ago there used to be a coin dealer who used a lady's "assets" as a tripod of sorts when taking pictures of the coin. Haha, just went to the link and found that seller is using a similar approach. Classy.
The coin is porous from corrosion. The only thing that could give it a nice smooth appearance again would be to put it in you pocket and carry it around until it wears down to Fine or so.
