Well this is definitely one of those occasions that I wished I had taken a before pic
I was out with Pipster last Monday and we had a bit of a non finds day to say the least and those we did find were odd!
One huge signal turned out to be a lions paw, which we presumed to be the foot of a pot, lamp, furniture OK OK we didn't have a clue lol, but it was in quite a state as far as being reddy brown with green spots of coper corrosion.
Well now I'm planning a trip to the scrap man to get rid of all my copper and lead bits soon and I was about to dump it in the box, when I thought "I wonder" and decided to give it a clean.
Now the point of this post is to show how you can clean some item (of no value or importance) to a reasonable state.
This can be used with modern coins too and will usually get them to a spendable standard. I popped the paw in a neat solution of "Metal cleaner and restorer" which is made by Swarfega and is available at B&Q.
I left it in this for 8 hours (it only attacks corrosion not metal) and then gave it a wash in soapy water and a quick Patented RJM wire brushing with a brass shoe brush (not steel) even a stiff tooth brush will do it. .
The pink areas are where the copper is leaching out of the brass and nothing can be done about those but with this method it cleans right into the corners, That's why it is not recommended for anything old, or that you wish to show it's age.
If using this please remember this is an acid and while not in the immediate burn family of acids care must be taken not to get it in your eyes or mouth. Here is a link to it's COSHH sheet.
http://www.lcp-automotive.co.uk/swarfegamsds/metalclean.pdf