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Author Topic: Opinions needed on cleaning of silvered coins  (Read 1607 times)

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Offline Celticaire

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Opinions needed on cleaning of silvered coins
« on: August 29, 2019, 10:02:08 am »
Hi All,

I recently got a couple of uncleaned coins that turned out to be silvered, so I have been soaking them in soapy distilled water and working on them gently with my picks. However, the dirt is weirdly greasy. I feel like I'm smearing it around more than removing it, even with the soap in the water. Because some of the core is exposed, I haven't tried lemon juice out of fear of making things worse. Should I try it carefully? As of right now, I think both coins look pretty bad, so I'd hate to leave them as they are.

Offline NIKSOL

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Re: Opinions needed on cleaning of silvered coins
« Reply #1 on: September 10, 2019, 04:49:31 pm »
silver?

Offline SC

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    • A Handbook of Late Roman Bronze Coin Types 324-395.
Re: Opinions needed on cleaning of silvered coins
« Reply #2 on: September 11, 2019, 06:25:49 pm »
These are silvered bronze and lemon juice would not be a good idea.  Only mechanical cleaning will really help.  You will see more details if you look under the cleaning silvered coins sticky in this topic.

If the dirt is soft you can use a knife to carve small wooden or plastic chisels from bamboo skewers, popsicle sticks or plastic knifes.  You can then use these to scrape the dirt off.  If greasy you may need to clean the "chisel" on a paper towel each time.

If the dirt is harder you may have to use a scalpel.

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(Shawn Caza, Ottawa)

Offline Celticaire

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Re: Opinions needed on cleaning of silvered coins
« Reply #3 on: September 17, 2019, 08:11:00 pm »
Yes, I did read the silvered coins sticky. These coins have just been very difficult to clean using those methods. Nothing scrapes them clean, just moves the dirt around. It’s weird.

Offline NIKSOL

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Re: Opinions needed on cleaning of silvered coins
« Reply #4 on: September 18, 2019, 04:05:52 pm »
i tried caustic potash

Offline SC

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Re: Opinions needed on cleaning of silvered coins
« Reply #5 on: September 18, 2019, 05:59:10 pm »
If you are "moving the dirt around" it sounds like you don't have a typical cleaning problem - i.e. how to remove hard material - but a de-greasing problem.

Try something non-acidic (i.e. avoid vinegar) and non-caustic.  Soap or maybe a special mechanic's de-greasing soap.

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(Shawn Caza, Ottawa)

 

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