uncleaned gold coin?

[Ben F3]

Hi All,

Newbie here trying to clean a lot of uncleaned roman coins. I have had them soaking in distilled water overnight and took them out for a light scrub with a trimmed toothbrush and removed some dirt from the coins. This coin in particular caught my eye as it appears to be gold peaking through. It is about 3cm in diameter. Could this be a gold denarius?

From the little research I have done it seems unlikely as uncleaned coins are supposed to never contain gold coins and gold coins are less likely to be as encrusted ?

Anyway - interested in your thoughts on what this may be, and the best way to continue cleaning it?

cheers,

Ben

[okidoki]

Hello Ben,

This is a cleaned Bronze coin.

[okidoki]

a sestertius Antonius Pius

woman seated left.
http://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=Antoninus+Pius+sestertius+seated+left&category=1&en=1&de=1&fr=1&it=1&es=1&ot=1&images=1&currency=usd&order=0&company=

[Ben F3]

Thanks for the very fast response, I assume I wont be able to reveal too much more detail than this with any more cleaning?

[okidoki]

no its bare metal, did you clean it with elektrolyse?

[Ben F3]

Hi. No just initially soapy water, then soaked in distilled water for a day and scrubbed with a toothbrush.
I have two tubs going with about 30 coins in each. Some are already showing nice detail.

cheers,

Ben

[areich]

In that case the coin was either 'used', meaning it had been brutally overcleaned before you got it or this is the result of fertilizers attacking it in the soil. Either way, this is what chemically cleaned brass coins look like.

[SC]

It looks like gold because it is likely orichalcum - basically brass - and not bronze.  Bronze is mainly copper and tin.  Orichalcum is mainly copper and zinc.  It looks shiny and gold like - think of a brass lamp or brass candlesticks.

Shawn

[areich]

It's the poor man's gold. Real gold doesn't corrode, at the most it develops some light toning.