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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;lehmansterms, post: 2697970, member: 80804&quot;]The conservation of uncleaned coins can, and often does become a hobby all its own, separate from &quot;collecting&quot; aspects, <i>per-se</i>. For those who find they have the patience, steady hands and the requisite temperament and enthusiasm for minutiae that serious coin-cleaning requires, the hobby of cleaning may be more rewarding than collecting.</p><p><br /></p><p>I would suggest, however, that electrolysis is absolutely the wrong place to start! It&#039;s like picking up a chain saw because you&#039;d like to learn to whittle.</p><p>The best results for beginners will come from far more patience-oriented, soft-path approaches. Long soaks in distilled water, mild detergents, old toothbrushes with the bristles cut short - these are highly unlikely to make uncleaneds worse than when you started, which is a serious possible outcome of injudicious electrolysis experimentation. The worst cleaning disasters I have ever seen were the products of amateur electrolysis experimentation.</p><p><br /></p><p>Some things to bear in mind - </p><p><br /></p><p>A - no, you will never, ever, <b>ever</b> find any gold coins in uncleaned lots, period (and damned few silver) - more people have been sucked-in by the suggestion that there is undiscovered gold in those lots of &quot;deer droppings&quot; - or what I call &quot;munitions-grade uncleaneds&quot; - than any other shill I have ever seen in action. </p><p><br /></p><p>B - unless you are buying the absolute top-end uncleaneds (which can cost more than comparable cleaned coins in bulk!) you will probably have a &quot;keeper-to-junk ratio&quot; of 10% -20% at best. Not many coins came through their period of inhumation without incurring some serious, irreparable damage.&nbsp; Diggers in source countries have become far more sophisticated in their ability to triage finds in the field, and those pieces which show promise for cleaning-up into really decent specimens tend to get pulled right there, in the field - as do larger pieces like sestertii which increasingly are becoming &quot;blank stock&quot; for the sculpting of &quot;toolies&quot; from &quot;the ground up&quot; in Eastern European countries. Pieces like these - tantamount to forgery, pure and simple, in my opinion - have often brought amounts at auction in recent years similar to the hammer-price of un-tooled or genuine and fully authentic specimens. (Some rich people are crazy!)</p><p><br /></p><p>C - You may find that folks you talk to about the cleaning hobby will insist that it&#039;s impossible to get decent results without spending at least $200 on a stereoscope - and for some sorts of coins, they may be right. Or they might not be right, it&#039;s a very personal sort of hobby in terms of the techniques which will work for you.</p><p><br /></p><p>D - The techniques required to get good results will vary from coin to coin, even in lots from the same find. Each coin is like a miniature archeological site, and like archeological sites, no two will be the same, respond to the same excavation techniques or yield the same results.&nbsp; Plus, as a science, both digging and cleaning are &quot;experiments&quot; which cannot, by definition, be repeated - you can only disturb the site once.</p><p><br /></p><p>E - You will be in very good company.&nbsp; Many folks do some amount of cleaning.&nbsp; Many more used to clean, but have let it lapse. So it&#039;s easy to find folks willing to give you advice. Finding really useful advice, however, can be a bit more difficult.</p><p><br /></p><p>Good luck![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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