Metal Detecting discussions and finds

I soaked it in warm dish soap and it seems to be dissolving.

 

Id leave that one as is...looks neat

 

Yes, I am pretty careful with coin cleaning. The page you linked made several good points. The first being: if you don't know what you have, don't do anything to it!
I cleaned an old Seated Liberty quarter I found because it is very worn and doesn't have much value. Well, it looks worse than it did before I fooled with it. Oh well, lesson learned.

 

Agreed! I'll soak it a bit longer, but won't do anything harsh to it.

 

Im getting a custom digging tool made, friend forges knives...he said he has couple days work then he can start on mine

 

Something that I would have never thought about when cleaning a copper coin was using Grape oil or olive oil as was talked about here: Copper coins tend to look worse after being cleaned and are more easily ruined than gold or silver coins. When absolutely necessary, clean dirty, green crusted, badly corroded copper coins without scrubbing them. Try soaking them in grape oil (or olive oil if grape oil is not available).

 

Would that remove patina?

 

It may be worth trying this method on a modern (pre-1982?) copper penny and see what effects to the patina happen after different soak times in grape/olive oil.

 

Yeah just wondered...i wouldnt want to devalue an item. A zincoln wouldnt matter IMO

 

Cool! Do you have a design in mind? That would be fun to play with!

 

I have been soaking it in warm water/dish soap and it is slowly dissolving the goop. I don't know what it is, but it kinda looks like tar.
I would try the grape/olive oil on a modern copper cent before I fooled around with this one.
Yes, copper is among the most reactive metals used in coinage.

 

Yeah, this is the first time hearing about this method, so I have never tried it yet myself.

I'm with the first few statements saying "If you don't know its value, don't clean it, or if you think it is valuable, don't clean it, or if you know it is valuable, don't clean it. In other words, do not clean your discovered coins; leave them untouched and stored in proper holders. "

 

kinda like the lesche you had a pic of but little widerseems like it will work ok

 

Please upload a picture of the Indian head penny if you are able to remove the gunk, either way, finding that coin would make my week.

I found a few Indian head pennies inside the bottom of a bureau that was being thrown away when I removed the bottom drawer, plus a few other older coins, as well as the find I showed here in someone's garbage.

 

This is something I’ve always wanted to try

 

Agreed! Leave the cleaning to the professionals. Or leave it as you found it.

 

I'm sure it will work fine! Post up pic's when you guys are done with it. There may be a market for them in here...

 

Careful, it can be very addicting... But it sure is fun!

 

def.

 

We went from this:




To this after two 15 min soapy water soaks: