coin cleaning

[Robot Rob]

Hi all,
What do you use and How do you clean your coin finds?
I have only found modern coins but i still would like to clean them up.
thanks
ROB....

[Neil]

Hey Rob

It depends on the coin and everyonmes different. For example:

With a silver milled coin - I personally like to wash it and polish it, which I know devalues it [johnny and Mark will be going nuts at this point], but I personally like the way it looks and its not about money.

Hammered silver or denarii - sprinkled warm water {not submersed) and tooth brush only and gently at that.

Coppers Vic/Georgian etc - depending on how old they are and what they are. If I want to keep them in good nick - let them dry after finding. Hard toothbrush and a toothpick to tidy up - seems to work for me. I know a few mates who use the electrolisis system and get good result {Jaydogg explain!}.

Modern coinage - I just give it a brush and drop it off to the bank in bagged coins - job done!

I am sure other people have ideas - Don't listen to Borderfox's Cilit Bang idea though!

Hope that helps and welcome to the site

Neil

[Robot Rob]

Modern coinage - I just give it a brush and drop it off to the bank in bagged coins - job done!

looks like i will take them to the bank then , more savings for the lad.
And what about other artifacts and metals?

[proconsul]

Welcome to the site, Robert. With all due respect to Neil, myself and quite a few other detectorists favour the 'spit and silver paper' method of cleaning hammered coins. This consists of rubbing the coin with some silverpaper lubricated with saliva. This produces a chemical reaction which produces a bad egg smell and results in the higher points on the coin being polished whilst the lower areas are darkened.

Coin collectors would probably be pretty horrified by this and I can't say that the value of the coin wouldn't be reduced but as Neil says money isn't everything.

It's interesting to note that coin collectors' attitude to cleaning coins is completely different to that of museums. Whereas collectors like to retain the 'patina' on a coin and clean it as little as possible, you will find most coins displayed in museums have been cleaned to the point that they look as though they've just been minted.

Geoff

[BottyBurp (Kris)]

Hiya Robert
To be quite honest with you I normally take any modern coins I find down to the Coinmart machine at Azdas & that tends to clean them quite nicely & they even tend to turn into notes! 

As for the coins I find on the beaches in Devon they tend to end up in the "Pay and Display" machine at Bigbury Bay.

[borderfox.1495]

hi robert,  i can only tell you not to do, dont use cillett bang on old coins and while waiting  for it to work, talk to your neibour for twenty minutes,my best ever  roman serstursus, was ruined when i took it  out dont be tempted to straighten a pin on a roman fibula,  i snapped   the fibula in half trying to straighting it,  last year,  had two sat the one pin was in place, the other a very large fibula had the pin out of line, i thought yes i can bend this to the catchplate,  going well i thought, getting there, next thing crack broke the tip of will i ever learn  good tip on ancient bronze get as much dirt of as poss. and then , imerse in olive oil, dry with soft tissueno time limit ten minutes to ten hours gives a great patina  regards john

[jaydogg]

Polishing milled or hammered silver..ugh (shudder)!   Yes Neil, I do prefer patinas for that authentic been used throughout the ages feel (nothing to do with money), be it on copper alloy or silver.  I only use electrolisis cleaning on copper alloy coins where the detail is obscured.  This George II was one of the better results of using electrolisis cleaning. 

[scrotalbells]

Anything with a green patina should be cleaned as soon and as gently as possible,[the green bit is a soft thin skin and is the early stages off "Bronze desease"]. I usually carry a small round ladies eye makeup brush [very small version of a blusherbrush, ask yer missus/girlfriend] it has hundreds of fine bristles and is very gentle,wrap a small elastic band around it about halfway up[tightly] and you have the perfect tool! Clean  asap if you cant find a puddle use spit and brush the mud along to the back of your hand [wet wipe will take care of that afterwards] once your satisfied pop it into its own little snap bag and job done! IMO even very worn soft toothbrushes are to harsh! Ian.                           

[zorro]

best method for silver hammered is spit 'n 'foil. as mentioned above . however when cleaning no need to press heavily on coin the slightest of pressure, just enough to keep foil in contact with coin then dab now dirty spittal off with kitchen roll and restart process.
i prefer to see roman with a patina (just my preference)
earlier milled George's etc look nice with the slightest rub of clear shoe polish to finish.
please bare in mind that any cleaning can seriously diminish the value of the coin. so if in doubt make sure to check the value of the coin with a reference book such as Spinks first.
hope this helps somewhat

[altinkum]

give em a good rub with a wire brush or sandpaper to clean the crud off then use a bit of jif cooker cleaner to shine them up. work's every time  mike

[bymatt666 (byron)]

i'd never have thought of that method mike.....i'll give it go !....byron...

[PHIL YNYSBOETH]

Thanks for the tip Mike my bronze Romans look at good as they did 2.000 odd years ago all clean and tidy!

Cheers Mate 

[Jonola (Jon)]

I've heard that olive oil can break down into acids that erode your coins. Don't know how true that is.

[mickycoin "mick"]

hi there, in  all coin books  it says that you should not clean coins, at best get an old tooth brush "soft one" a bit of warm soapy water and clean it that way  mick

[DIG IT! (ADIE)]

CILLIT BANG! and the coin is gone