ANy ideas how to clean this up?

[Old Katz]

Todays hunt turned out better than I thought.
In the last post there was a coin with question marks after it.
I dropped it in some vinegar for awhile then used some baking soda and
a kids tooth brush to clean some of the gunk off.
Any ideas how to get this back in shape?

Katz

 

[montanagold]

copper is hard. Vinegar tends to turn it orange and make it chalky. The only thing I do is throw them in the tumbler with some epoxy coated fish gravel. Sometimes it works great but most of the time it just enables me to see the coin more clearly.

 

[silvernail]

If it isn't a rare date and all I want is to be able to see the dang thing, I get out the metal polish and toothbrush. That one would look pretty good with a little electrolysis, I think.

 

[Old Katz]

Thanks everyone. I guess I'll just have to go out and find another one in better condition.
Katz -)

 

[Ant]

It's almost impossible one of those. I cleaned my none key day IHP's with Red Devil Lye and a brass wired toothbrush, I only leave it in the solution for a minute or so before I check it.

 

[nw1886]

Nice find but once the metal is that far gone... Just my thoughts but all this "tumbling", "wire brushing" and resurfacing of a coin is just "not right". If you look at a coin/collectable as purely a possesion and what ever makes it better fo you...well what can I say? It's just that I see this stuff proffesionally. It's one thing to accept something for what it is and enjoy it as that. It's another to throw it in a junk box and think of it as mishandled garbage. Not at all trying to do any insulting here but that IS the view of ALL people who deal with coins and collectables proffessionally. I'm still trying to forget about the 200+ large cents that were "tumbled" and delegated to the "Gargage Bin" (mentally anyways) to all who would own them in the future. (Very rare varieties included!) Enjoy these finds for what they are and let them show there "mileage" (and not turn them into another "Joan Rivers" plastic surgury mishap).

Sorry for getting on a stump here again but man....seen an AU SLQ "thrashed on" (another forum here) and I really appreciate you asking "What do I do?"!!!!

We don't own our stuff forever but we are responsible for it only once.

 

[weston]

n/t

 

[montanagold]

I am no collector, and I don't pull out the white gloves when I touch my coins. I love to look at them, hold them and even carry some in my pocket from time to time. I could care less who gets them when I am dead. The only thing that makes a coin valuable is the people who want them, and I want all of my coins because I found them and that's worth more to me than a grade. Granted I wouldn't touch an 8,000.00 coin but I am a tumbler and I love the results I get from tumbling. Even the 1857 Large cent i found. Happy hunting and enjoy your finds, That's why we do it.