When you come home from digging, the first thing you should do is wash what you found in ordinary water, wash off the dirt and dust. Most likely, you will then find spots or even green growths on copper coins. This is nothing more than copper dihydroxide carbonate. How to deal with it? Below I will give one of the most popular and effective methods, which is suitable for ordinary coins that are often found in fields. Undoubtedly expensive rare specimens are best left to professionals for cleaning, as there is a risk of damaging the patina.
We will need: a metal container (iron bowl or mug), tweezers, a cloth, some oil (I take olive oil, but machine oil will also work), regular baking soda, an old toothbrush and, finally, a stove. For a teaspoon of soda you need about half a glass of water, mix the solution in a metal bowl. Place the patient(s) on the bottom so that there is at least two cm of solution above the coins, put on fire.
We wait 10-15 minutes and take turns taking out the coins with tweezers and cleaning them with a toothbrush. The green coating should gradually disappear. We repeat the process until the desired result, but it is important not to overdo it. It usually takes me 30-40 minutes for the whole process. We constantly monitor the safety of the dark patina on the coin and try to prevent it from reddening. Redness is a clear sign of the patina coming off! It’s not scary if the green coating remains interspersed in the coin’s relief; it’s better to bring it to mind in the next stage of cleaning. We need a cloth soaked in oil to wipe the coins with it from time to time. This process is designed to prevent the baking soda from drying on the surface of the coin. We don’t need white plaque! I also advise you to rinse the coin under the tap while cleaning with a brush.
In order not to be unfounded, I will give here examples of recent boiling, the effect is obvious!
Here in the photo are those three coins that I picked up the other day using the Nokta Fors Relic detector. You can read more about this release here.
For clarity, here is another example — 2 kopecks of Paul I.
Overse «to» and «after»:
Reverse «to» and «after»:
Do you want it even more clearly? Here’s a video from Koshevoy. The same process with small deviations, but the essence is the same — cook in soda.
Boiling in soda not suitable for Soviet era coins, I don’t recommend experimenting with them, it will only get worse!
Let me remind you: under no circumstances should you clean rare coins yourself! With this post I do not guarantee you the same result, I am just sharing my personal experience here! Much depends on the initial state of the coin, how much it has been destroyed by time.
Have you already tried this method? Tell us about your experience in cleaning copper!
Excellent preservation of your finds! Follow news and good luck in your search!
