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CLEANING YOUR FINDS COPPER I think it was Shakespear who said “To clean or Not to Clean, that is the Question”. Actually the question is easily answered - don’t do it! If a coin has any possible value, a sure way of lessening it’s value is to try to make it look good by “touching” it up. Having said that, what follows are some methods I have found over the years to break the prior caution AFTER determining that your coin has no value. There must be hundreds of tips floating around our hobby on how to make your coins look good. Some tips I have gathered from other detectorists, some from the internet and just a few I may have developed myself. So let’s begin:
CLAD COINS The easiest method to clean Clad coins is by use of a Tumbler CAUTION - Separate the pennies from the nickels, dimes, quarters and halves. If you mix them, they will all come out with a copper tint on them. Clean pennies alone. The rest can be cleaned together. Fill the tumbler about half way with clad Add aquarium gravel to about 3/4 full Add a half cap of dishwashing soap Add 1 teaspoon of Cream of Tartar - yes, I’m not kidding Fill tumbler with water to just cover the above mixture - start the motor and run for 2 or 3 hours. STAINS - The above process with get the dirt off the coins but may not leave the coins free of stains. Some suggest you then soak them in a cup of white vinegar plus a tablespoon of table salt - overnight if necessary. Then back into the tumbler for a short tumble and hopefully they will have lost most of the stains. Unfortunately there is nothing you can do about the corrosion of the newer Zinc pennies. Frankly, the real bad ones I throw in the garbage. The coin counting machines will not accept them and I can’t stand the look in the eyes of the Safeway girl when I try to spend them. TIP - A small bristled Brass Brush can sometimes be used to good advantage. Brass is softer than our copper and if lightly used it can help. Just don’t bear down.
CLEANING OLD COPPER COINS I stumbled across this one on the internet, and it works fairly well on old wheaties, Indians and other old copper cents. First, you must promise to not tell your wife I told you to use her Crockpot! If the coin is covered with crud that you cannot remove with soap and water - and you don’t want to tumble it, try this: Plug in the Crockpot on high, add some peroxide and let it get good and hot. Drop in the coin and it will soon begin to bubble. Oh, yes, add a wood toothpick to soak with the mixture. After 10 minutes or so remove the coin. Take the soaked toothpick and gently scrape the junk off the coin. Easy now, don’t scratch it! Repeat this procedure until you have cleaned the coin. Yep, it works!
MAKE YOUR OWN ELECTROLYSIS UNIT Can be used on copper or silver coins. Equipment required: 300mA AC/DC adapter - Buy at Radio Shack 2 small alligator clips Stainless steel spoon 1 quart jar (fruit jar) Baking soda CAUTION: THE ADAPTER OUTPUT MUST BE DC! Strip the wires coming out of the adapter and attach an alligator clip to the ends. Use a solution of 8oz water and 1 teaspoon baking soda Hook spoon over the side of the fruit jar. Attach coin to the ‘negative’ clip and the spoon to the “positive’ clip and immerse into the liquid. Making sure they are NOT TOUCHING (about an inch or so apart) - plug in. The clip that bubbles is the negative clip. If wrong, unplug, swap items and start over. The coin will start bubbling immediately. Silver cleans VERY rapidly - normally less than 30 seconds. Watch closely. There may be a dark residue after cleaning but this easily rubs off. A final cleaning can be done with a little baking soda between the fingers or use of Wrights Silver Cream. CAUTION: A byproduct of this operation is Hydrogen gas, so always work in a well ventilated room. Also, do not bend over the jar with a lit cigarette in your mouth, or ......!! When done with old copper coins, watch carefully because it can erase the image on the coin
SILVER I think nothing is so great as to get a good signal and then see the glint of silver as it comes out of the ground. Let me again stress that before you do anything to enhance the beauty of the coin you have just dug is to really check the books as to the possible value of the coin. If in doubt, do not clean! The first method I use with a silver coin is the warm water, soap and soft toothbrush routine. However, some silver does get stained or encrusted and you have to use harsher methods. In those cases the Electrolysis method can be your salvation. If in the process of cleaning the coin it turns to a dull color you can always turn to Wrights Silver polish to clean it up. Just remember that the dark residue you see as you polish the coin is silver oxidation coming off the coin. ARM & HAMMER “WASHING SODA” METHOD “Washing Soda” is in quotes because you do not use Arm & Hammer “BAKING SODA”. Heat approx ½ cup of water - very hot Mix 3 tsp A&M Washing Soda to hot water in a glass/ceramic cooking dish. Place a piece of Aluminum foil on bottom of container Place coin on foil and remove when the fizzing stops Pat dry
GENERAL TIPS A household cleaner called SIMPLE GREEN is alleged to be a great soak solution for older coins, especially older nickels. It is a slow process but it gives you more control. Every now and then remove the coin and gently scrub with a toothbrush. If not “bright” enough put it back for a longer soak. This can take days but it does not harm the coin. I’ve heard that soaking nickels in tomato catsup also works, but I have not tried this one. Soaking old pennies in Olive Oil is another remedy of long standing. Again it takes many days. Here is a couple I heard of in England. Soak the encrusted coin in water and then put it in the freezer. The water expands and as it does the ice expands and breaks the crud away. It may take a few tries to get most of the crud away but it should not harm the basic coin. ______________________________________________________________________________ As I said in the introduction, do not attempt to clean a coin if it may have possible value. If you are lucky enough to recover a key date or valuable coin, get advice or assistance from a numismatic professional. When trying some of the above cleaning methods, just use a few coins until you get the hang of it. To everyone out there who helped develop some of the methods described above, thank you. They say that plagiarism is one of the most sincere forms of flattery. To this I plead guilty. |
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