Classical Numismatics Discussion
  Welcome Guest. Please login or register. 10% Off Store-Wide Sale Until 2 April!!! Explore Our Website And Find Joy In The History, Numismatics, Art, Mythology, And Geography Of Coins!!! Expert Authentication - Accurate Descriptions - Reasonable Prices - Coins From Under $10 To Museum Quality Rarities Welcome Guest. Please login or register. 10% Off Store-Wide Sale Until 2 April!!! Explore Our Website And Find Joy In The History, Numismatics, Art, Mythology, And Geography Of Coins!!! Support Our Efforts To Serve The Classical Numismatics Community - Shop At Forum Ancient Coins

New & Reduced


Author Topic: Cleaning with Distilled Water  (Read 5896 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline rick fox

  • Caesar
  • ****
  • Posts: 630
  • Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris
Cleaning with Distilled Water
« on: June 06, 2007, 09:34:30 pm »
I have some uncleaned coins that were soaking in olive oil.  I dired them off and put them into DW.  Question: Is the coating of oil left on the coins enough to protect them from the DW?

Also how long before I should take them out and begin scrubbing them?  They are not crusties or anything, just got dirt and stuff on them.
Iacta alea est  - 'The die has been cast' (Julius Caesar Jan 10, 49 BC Rubicon River, Italy)

Offline awl

  • Comitia Curiata
  • Caesar
  • ****
  • Posts: 527
Re: Cleaning with Distilled Water
« Reply #1 on: June 07, 2007, 12:32:15 am »
Question: Is the coating of oil left on the coins enough to protect them from the DW?

There is really nothing to protect from the DW. It is an extremely mild acid that is why it takes  longer to clean the coins than most other chemicals.

Vladimir

  • Guest
Re: Cleaning with Distilled Water
« Reply #2 on: June 07, 2007, 12:37:31 am »
DW might hurt coins neverthless.  I was soaking a few hundred  coins in barely a pint of water  and was changing it once  a month or so,   and in a few months many details / original patina were  gone.  ( while the dirt  present )
Be careful; I've heard the same  from long time olive soaks ( 2 years +)

Offline awl

  • Comitia Curiata
  • Caesar
  • ****
  • Posts: 527
Re: Cleaning with Distilled Water
« Reply #3 on: June 07, 2007, 12:40:43 am »
Any chemical used for a long time can hurt the obviously hurt the coins, but DW stripping a coin of its patina in a few months is strange. Are you sure it was not the quality of the coins. I soaked hundreds of coins in DW for nearly a year and none had problems, but some coins did better than others considering the kind of patina and dirt.

Vladimir

  • Guest
Re: Cleaning with Distilled Water
« Reply #4 on: June 07, 2007, 12:45:47 am »
well overall  many coins looked worse than before the DW bath; Not all of them of course;  I guess it depends  how often do you  change water.  Anyways, I'm not doing more than 2 week soaks anymore.

basemetal

  • Guest
Re: Cleaning with Distilled Water
« Reply #5 on: June 08, 2007, 10:17:37 pm »
I guess this will...ahem...muddy the waters, but one of my best successes was to soak a very heavily crusted, Probus ant, for over a year and it came up with a fragile coat of sllver that was very thin, but mostly complete.  I changed the DW once a week and about once a month did a gentle scrub with a nylon brush.
It was heavily encrusted and it would have been easy, about 6 months on, just before the silver started to show, to take a brass brush and...well...have had a nifty, cleaned coin that was pure basemetal with great detail, without the silvering
I cannot emphasize how gradual this whole process was and the patience involved.  I'm sure I have taken the silver off of other similar coins without ever knowing it.
Bruce

Offline berserkrro

  • Consul
  • ***
  • Posts: 387
Re: Cleaning with Distilled Water
« Reply #6 on: June 09, 2007, 12:31:44 pm »
There are collectors and dealers here. Dear dealer, please don't advice a collector that wants to clean his coin to make a single rule for all the coins! There are coins and coins, each one has an appropriate method for cleaning. What's successful with one may destroy other. DW is ok for breaking strong crusts, but one should know when to stop and continue with something else. DW can riun a coin letting it a bare metal object without almost anything on it, if used for a too long time, also can do nothing for other coins. Is not that easy.

Offline awl

  • Comitia Curiata
  • Caesar
  • ****
  • Posts: 527
Re: Cleaning with Distilled Water
« Reply #7 on: June 09, 2007, 01:15:47 pm »
Can someone show me a before and after picture of DW actually "destroying" a coin?

 

All coins are guaranteed for eternity