It was a GREAT first cleaning job. Why? Because you got the coin clean enough to attribute clearly and you did NOT over clean it! The biggest problem new cleaners have is stopping in time!!!
That said, the next opportunity to kick it up a notch on this coin is to reduce the green mineralization / crusty stuff. You can either do that chemically -- I do use chemicals for this sometimes, however I wouldn't in this case because you are getting very close to exposing metal on the left half of the
obverse. Soaking the coin at this stage in something that eats the greenies may easily affect the parts of the coin that are in
good shape. So, in this case, what do you do?
You have to get mechanical. This means that - using
tools like those mentioned by MD, as well as others -- to gently grind away the green stuff under magnification. If you are very careful, you will expose more detail in the legends, on the
bust, and on the
reverse. Even if more detail isn't actually uncovered, by reducing the green stuff, you seemingly make the detail stand out more.
By far the easiest way to do this for beginners is to slowly grind away at them using an abrasive tool that is designed for this purpose -- that is important. The DDDP is one such, and I use mine every time I clean a coin. There are other options -- you can use a diamond dusted Dremel
bit and either hold it in your hand or put it into a pin vise -- you do NOT have to only use those bits in a Dremel -- many, many options with those. I, personally, at this point would go after the greenies with a scapel. It is just the way I like to do it -- it is VERY peaceful to me to sit and gently
pick those things off, but be advised it is much slower than the grinding route. I personally think you can get a better result, but it is really six of one, half dozen of the other.
Another advantage of the grinding route is that you can use much cheaper magnification, like 3X provided in a desktop lamp/magnifier combo. They are pretty
cheap and available at many office supply and hoppy stores. To get very serious with scalpels and some of the more arcane
tools, you really have to use a binocular/stereo microscope of 10x, which frankly can easily run a couple of hundred bucks (my advice is to start more cheaply, spend the savings on more uncleaned coins to get even more practice in).
I'm not a big fan of pipe cleaner brushes... There is actually a pretty
good, soft
brass brush that helps with these greenies (available from MD, but needs a Dremel). I also have a couple of the Nik-a-brushes that I like (no one gasp, please, you use what works). Otherwise, use a firm, nylon bristle toothbrush and cut the bristles down to about half length. I think you will like that better.
Write back if you need more info or suggestions.
Mark
