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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;nerosmyfavorite68, post: 24904489, member: 134416&quot;]I ordered coins like those in the picture, from dirtyoldcoins in 2004, when the coins were actually uncleaned - it&#039;s incredibly rare to find actual uncleaneds now. </p><p><br /></p><p>The guides that are available now weren&#039;t available then.&nbsp; I tried &#039;best practices&#039; of the period, following the directions on the packages.&nbsp; I tried gringott&#039;s mix (boiling them) and then olive oil. What a disaster.&nbsp; Many stayed in for years and got no better.</p><p><br /></p><p>There&#039;s a few decent videos on youtube about cleaning.&nbsp; Most of the ones that I liked used mechanical cleaning, very carefully doing it with a wooden tool.</p><p><br /></p><p>I have little patience, I&#039;m not good with hands-on stuff, and I don&#039;t enjoy the process. I learned to buy better, already cleaned stuff, preferably with a great patina.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>I did buy a decent number of better uncleaneds this year, but it was to <i>leave</i> them as uncleaneds, to have before examples for each denomination.</p><p><br /></p><p>[MEDIA=youtube]l2j25dNzTCU[/MEDIA]</p><p><br /></p><p>This isn&#039;t the exact video I was thinking of, but you get the idea.</p><p><br /></p><p>My advice on the uncleaneds; Don&#039;t rush into anything. Find a good video, or get advice from experts, who actually have cleaned a lot of stuff.&nbsp; I completely suck at cleaning stuff, so I&#039;m not the one for the hands-on advice.&nbsp; Victor Clark and other people here have cleaned a lot of stuff.</p><p><br /></p><p>The 1990&#039;s were the glory days of uncleaneds.&nbsp; I remember getting As-sized imperials and provincials from Matt Kreuzer for $1.50 each.&nbsp; Most of those were cleaned (the trachea weren&#039;t). While they weren&#039;t any world-beaters, most were VG or F, with very little bronze disease.&nbsp; 99% were able to be identified.</p><p><br /></p><p>If you can find good bulk deals on cleaned stuff, that&#039;d probably be the best route. Dr. Fishman has retired, but I happily bought all the $25 tetrarchal-era Nummi I could from him, around 2009.&nbsp; They were VF and pretty nice.&nbsp; Even the AE3/centenionalii were pretty decent, for $5/each.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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