To clean, or not to clean...

[casata137ec]

Evening all. After all the trouble I had IDing the little Athena/grain ear coin (check out the thread https://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=73621.0 if at all interested!), I decided to get it's better known and bigger brother... the Lion/grain ear variant (Lysimachia, Thrace).

So...here it is, and my dilemma. I know what is on the coin, and everything is visible. The lion is pretty nice and the grain ear is...well...a grain ear! I can make out the legend (in hand, at any rate...it's only 4 letters anyway, lol). Everything that I generally clean a coin for is already there...but...

I already know what I am going to do, but I am curious what my peers would do in my place: leave it alone or clean it?

Chris


15mm 3.11g ( a heck out a lot bigger than the coins I have been playing with lately!)

   

[renegade3220]

 Clean it of course! I would clean dry or only get very small areas you want to clean very slightly damp. Start with just the high areas, expose them and then smooth out the fields a little. Really leave it desert patina type. Just me, because if you dont like it then you can continue to clean, but if you do like it then perfecto!

[casata137ec]

lol...I hear you Jeremy. One thing I failed to mention is that it is a relativly scarce coin to boot. Only one of it's size on acsearch, none on wildwinds. Would that change your opinion?

Chris

[renegade3220]

lol...I hear you Jeremy. One thing I failed to mention is that it is a relativly scarce coin to boot. Only one of it's size on acsearch, none on wildwinds. Would that change your opinion?

Chris

Yup. Lol. I didn't look into any of that info, figured it was just another for you to dig in to.

It looks pretty good as is now come to think of it. LOL.

It may not he worth messing with, but if so I think it would ba a quick and easy clean for you. That dirt looks pretty soft to me.

If cleaned though I would still progress like the first comment. High to low and stop when enough is exposed or happy.

No soaks. Not too sure about that patina under there. I could be off base but don't think I am, but you asked!

[Jaimelai]

I'd clean it, but gently at first as Jeremy described, trying to leave some desert to highlight, like your other coin.

[Jay GT4]

Clean only the high points.  It will look even better than it already does!

[casata137ec]

lol...it sure seems that I am running with an adventurous crowd! I had already decided against cleaning...but I may give it a try. I am troubled by the pebbly surface (the little green highlights poking through here and there on an otherwise smooth area), though (I am afraid that the surface dirt may be hiding a pitted surface). I am still on the fence...what I may do is the "rubbing on a cotton cloth" method that Johnny somtimes used on his desert patina coins, if for no other reason than simply to smooth it out a tad.

I am sure I will be mentally debating this all day while I am "concentrating" on work.

Chris

[renegade3220]

I understand you concern with that patina. That was my concern as well, but I think you can gently smooth out the fields without removing a lot of dirt and won't run the risk of finding a pitted surface. You could even try a damp or dry q tip and just rub the high areas, much like the cloth method. A dry q tip may also help smooth out the fields with little dirt removal.

I have used the q tip thing before on a coin I thought I would lose the very low relief detail if I cleaned it completely.

[Salem Alshdaifat]

for sure clean it, very carefully, soak it in DW for over night and try to clean it wet.
best.
Salem

[casata137ec]

All right...let's try this again...(I had a really long post 99% done and my pc freaked out and I lost it...dag nabbit!)

So, after weighing all the advice given, I decided to give this coin the old spit treatment and manually clean. I wetted my thumb pretty thoroughly and wiped it across the obverse to moisten the surface and to my horror 90% of the dirt came off with my swipe! Gahhh! I did the same to the reverse with the same results...almost as if the coin had been re-dirted. (see middle pic) I got it from a well known and reputable dealer so I have no idea what was up with that! At this point I got pretty discouraged. The patina was semi-flakey and the pretty dirt was nothing but a smudge on my thumb...what to do?

In a recent cleaning thread (don't remember which, sorry) it had been theorized that waxing coins with this sort of flaky patina may help hold it together for further cleaning. I had never tried this, but figured it could not hurt. I dabbed a bit on both sides and rubbed it in lightly, wiped off the excess, and let it sit for a couple of days. I then mechanically cleaned what I felt comfortable cleaning and the last pic is the result. Not bad. Not fantastic, but not bad.

I am putting the before, right after rubbing the dirt off, and final pics to make it easier to see the progression. One major thing that I did gain is a 100% attribution with revealing the control mark (  ) on the lower left of the rev.

Thrace, Lysimachia mint, 329-220 B.C. AE, 15mm 3.09g, BMC Thrace pg 196, 18
O: Lion’s head, r.
R: ΛΥ – ΣI, Stalk of barley, in field l., control mark (  )

Chris

[Jaimelai]

Not too bad at all!  Gained a lot of detail which you couldn't see before.

Nice!

[renegade3220]

Chris, I honestly think it was still worth doing. I like the coin better. Your after wiping dirt off and final picture make me realize I have a long long way to go in my cleaning skills. You revealed detail I can't even see in the middle photo and got rid off all the graininess that appears it may have been from encrustations?

I don't know how you figure out to keep going. I feel I would have thought the middle picture was as good as it would get.

[casata137ec]

Thank guys.

I don't know how you figure out to keep going. I feel I would have thought the middle picture was as good as it would get.

Jeremy - I cleaned until there was nothing left to clean! lol In the second pic, that is the "dirt" (probably the actual dug dirt) UNDER the light dirt. Once the light dirt went away I was left with the second pic, which bugged me to no end, so I got rid of most of the harder, darker dirt and viola. The patina started flaking, so I lightly waxed to harden it. Simple as that. (oh yeah...I hit it lightly with my silver brush as well)

Chris

[renegade3220]

Ah ya, I see now that that is dirt in the second picture.  Hard to tell when looking at it all on my phone.

Well, an all around great coin and job as usual!