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Author Topic: the death of a coin  (Read 1337 times)

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Offline Ardatirion

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the death of a coin
« on: April 25, 2007, 12:28:01 am »
So, I've seen various threads on this forum asking when to give a coin up as impossible. I think I've found that point. I just took this coin out of its week long olive oil soak and brushed it using a brass brush. A decent amount of dirt came off, so I decided to attempt to use the dental pick on it. This seemed to work great, and the dirt was flying off the coin. Unfortunately, it did not stop. The material coming off was brownish red and gritty. I was able to pick down about 1.5 mm from the 'surface' of the coin. The surface also had some white and green encrustations as well, perhaps this is bronze disease at its worst? After some more picking, the coin fractured into three pieces. The center is a sickly, blackish purple color.

I'm not really concerned about the loss of this coin. Yes, it was a one-of-a-kind ancient artifact and yes now my collection is less one coin, but hey -  not everything can survive the passage of time. All in all, this has been a fun learning experience. If I had to compare it to anything, I'd say its like losing a tooth as a child. Fear and dread of what may happen, but overall fascination. I'll post some pics if I get the chance.

Offline areich

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Re: the death of a coin
« Reply #1 on: April 25, 2007, 01:43:39 pm »
The same thing happened to me when I started with uncleaneds, except my coin really crumbled between my fingers.
I felt so stupid, because I thought, 'Wow, this olive oil is great!' at first.
Andreas Reich

Offline awl

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Re: the death of a coin
« Reply #2 on: April 25, 2007, 06:29:52 pm »
If it was bronze disease, the coin would have broke into smaller pieces and would have had more pits. Chances are that it was just a coin that was broken in ancient times and finally fell apart.

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Re: the death of a coin
« Reply #3 on: April 26, 2007, 06:29:04 am »
Remeber also that some coins have been made highly brittle by hundreds of years of natural oxidation, so be gentle with the coin! I remember what happened when I put one lovley Constantius in an Ultrasonic bath at work..........I got coin dust! :-\

 

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