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Author Topic: Trajan AS Pietas - before and after  (Read 8273 times)

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Offline singig

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Trajan AS Pietas - before and after
« on: February 04, 2018, 10:11:01 pm »
Hello, I would like to share with you one of my last cleaned coins.
I decided to clean it for three reasons: stripped green patina , the copper surface was in good health and the last one , I didn’t pay too much for it.
I used: water, vinegar, bamboo sticks and a small plastic brush. + wax

RIC 392
IMP CAES NERVA TRAIAN AVG GERM PM
TR POT COS II S-C
26 mm / 9.2 gr

Offline Meepzorp

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Re: Trajan AS Pietas - before and after
« Reply #1 on: February 07, 2018, 12:06:36 am »
Hi sing,

What do you mean by "stripped green patina"? To me, it looks like the patina was still intact, before you "cleaned" it. It appears to me that you are the one who stripped the patina.

Coins with stripped patinas are more susceptible to bronze disease.

Meepzorp

Offline singig

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Re: Trajan AS Pietas - before and after
« Reply #2 on: February 07, 2018, 11:14:14 am »
Hi Meepzorp,
sorry for the confusion, english is not my first language, I realized after that the right word should be ‘’broken’’
Yes the green patina was almost intact on the reverse, a nice one to do not touch, but unfortunately the broken patina on the obverse has distorted the portrait. For this main reason I took the decision to clean it in this way. It took me some years to decide this  :)

Offline SC

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Re: Trajan AS Pietas - before and after
« Reply #3 on: February 08, 2018, 08:16:24 pm »
Stripping the patina should never be done lightly.  But it sure looks like the patina was bad - broken as you say - and could not be fixed.  It might not have decayed but it could not have been improved.  The coin looks fine now and will tone nicely.  The details are certainly clearer now too.

SC
 
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Offline singig

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Re: Trajan AS Pietas - before and after
« Reply #4 on: February 09, 2018, 01:29:19 pm »
Thank you for your opinion !

Offline Joe Sermarini

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Re: Trajan AS Pietas - before and after
« Reply #5 on: February 09, 2018, 02:07:16 pm »
Few collectors would find this coin improved. You certainly did not increase its value.
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Offline peterpil19

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Re: Trajan AS Pietas - before and after
« Reply #6 on: February 11, 2018, 01:03:17 am »
I concur with the views above. I would not have removed the patina. The coin looks worse without the patina. From the original photos posted above, very possibly the coin could have been carefully cleaned further with a toothpick to remove what appears to be dirt on top of the patina but stripping it was unnecessary.

Peter

Offline singig

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Re: Trajan AS Pietas - before and after
« Reply #7 on: February 11, 2018, 10:39:48 am »
The coin still preserve a nice thin brown patina, I stopped cleaning where it should be, it’s not a shining ugly bare metal. Maybe my photos are not so good, the coin looks much better in hand.
Was very difficult to improve its condition because of the contrast between the brown spots and the green, the color must be uniform.
I respect your opinion.

Offline Joe Sermarini

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Re: Trajan AS Pietas - before and after
« Reply #8 on: February 11, 2018, 09:23:17 pm »
Nonsense. You have stripped the patina. Apparently you don't know patina from bare metal. I don't respect your opinion and frankly, I think you should find someplace else to brag about stripping coins. I recall you said you rarely strip coins, please share the ones you do not strip.
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Offline singig

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Re: Trajan AS Pietas - before and after
« Reply #9 on: February 13, 2018, 01:59:55 pm »
On the left side you have a stripped coin at bare metal level , on the right side you have a stripped coin also but which preserve a very thin layer of brown patina.
The color of this last layer was initially green but in contact with the acetic acid has changed to brown.
If you look at the S C letters the color is lighter, this is bare metal.
 
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Offline Joe Sermarini

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Re: Trajan AS Pietas - before and after
« Reply #10 on: February 16, 2018, 07:47:40 am »
Green patina does not "change" to brown. I am not a chemist, but I believe that is impossible. The green patina was dissolved, removed - stripped. 
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Offline Robert_Brenchley

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Re: Trajan AS Pietas - before and after
« Reply #11 on: March 06, 2018, 05:58:27 pm »
Green patina is copper carbonate; it can't change its color. The acetic acid dissolved it. I've only ever done that once; whatever patina the coin may have had had been removed in previous cleaning attempts, leaving nothing but a mass of green concretions which covered almost everything. I didn't feel bad about stripping that as there was a nice and rare coin buried underneath it all.
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Offline Mayadigger

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Re: Trajan AS Pietas - before and after
« Reply #12 on: May 30, 2018, 04:55:48 pm »
Ave!

Nonsense. You have stripped the patina. Apparently you don't know patina from bare metal. I don't respect your opinion and frankly, I think you should find someplace else to brag about stripping coins. I recall you said you rarely strip coins, please share the ones you do not strip.

 +++

Singig -

After the fact, but what you should have done is to have soaked your coin in DW and, very gently and slowly, addressed the surfaces on both sides with either a scalpel or a common dental pick. After all, it was just soft dirt. Once done, perhaps an application of RenWax and a buff, to bring our the color of the patina?


Best to all,

Kevin
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Offline SC

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Re: Trajan AS Pietas - before and after
« Reply #13 on: August 30, 2018, 05:18:21 pm »
I am not sure it was "just dirt".  What I saw, admittedly from an image, was a coin with some solid green patina, lots of cracks and spots in lighter green that were likely powdery unsalable patina, and dirt which might have covered the former or the later.

SC
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Offline GRWilson

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Re: Trajan AS Pietas - before and after
« Reply #14 on: August 30, 2018, 07:18:06 pm »
All of the comments were fun to read but the basic facts remain...the coin has probably lost value and is more susceptible to bronze disease. If I was looking to buy that coin, the coin with the patina would have caught my interest whereas the one stripped of the patina would have not. I personally love patina. When one realizes how long a patina like the one stripped takes to form, it's a shame that it is taken off.
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