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Cleaning
ancient coins is a wonderful hobby, but the first thing
you will need to succeed is patience. It makes all the
difference and will definitely influence the value of
the cleaned coin. Of course, not all uncleaned coins will
give great results. Some are easy to clean, some are a
real challenge, but you never know what you are going
to find under these almost 2000 years old encrustations.
1500 to 2000
years ago, bronze coins were brilliant while being in
circulation and had no patina. The patina is that dark
color (green, red, brown or black) coating that builds
up on coins over the centuries. An ancient coin lost most
of its value when this coating is removed, so cleaning
ancient coin is all about removing the dirt and the encrustation,
but never alter the patina. There are more advanced and
hazardous techniques to clean ancient coins than what
you will read below, a quick search on Internet will show
you there are a lot of cleaning techniques attempted by
ancient coins collectors from around the world.
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Useful
tools :
- Magnifier
(use a handfree magnifier, the common one with the
handle is useless to clean a coin)
- Toothpicks.
- Nylon brush or toothbrush
(trim the bristle for a stiffer brush)
- Dentist stainless steel picks (steel could
scratch patina, use very gently!)
- Brass brush (for thick encrustations removal)
- Clear plastic container (to see your coins
through it, while soaking in olive oil or distilled
water)
- Soap or sodium bicarbonate
- Distilled water (easy to find at your local
drug store)
- Non-virgin olive oil (easy to find at your
local grocery or supermarket)
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Most of the
uncleaned ancient coins will be safely cleaned by following
these simple steps :
1) For the
first step, basically remove the surface dirt on the coins
by cleaning them in water with dish soap or hand soap.
Many coins will look good after that simple step. Others
will need more work.
2) The second
step consists to soak the coins in distilled water. It
is by far the safest technique to clean an ancient coin.
Use only real 100% distilled water, not equivalent. And
forget about using tap water, it doesn't have the same
reaction on chalky encrustation than distilled water.
Soak the coins for a week of two, changing the distilled
water frequently.
3) The third
step is about removing encrustations that loosened by
soaking in distilled water. For coins showing details,
use a nylon brush with hand soap or sodium bicarbonate.
For crusty coins, use a brass brush first to remove the
larger incrustations, and then finish with the nylon brush
when you are about to reach the coin's precious patina.
If doing step
one to three isn't enough to completely remove the dirt
and encrustations, restart to step one. You could also
soak the coins longer, for weeks or even months, brushing
them regularly from time to time, then re-soaking them
and so on.
Another technique
is to use non-virgin olive oil. Simply soak the coins
in olive oil for a week or two at once. The olive oil
will penetrate and softened the encrustations. Repeat
step one to three but with olive oil instead of distilled
water.
You can also
remove the tiny encrustations between letters and details
using a toothpick or stainless steel dentist tools. Obviously,
toothpicks are safer than stainless steel tools. Wearing
goggles is recommended.
Have
fun cleaning !
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