Fantastic weekend! Now I need to clean them.

[Whitetail]

First of all yes I plan on putting up pictures, but

What a great weekend! Found my first large cent this weekend. 1819. Found an 1854 Canadian coin(same size as the large cent). Also found a Centavo(??) that also needs to be cleaned(~Quarter size). My question is what is the best way of cleaning these older coins that aren't silver? Heck, I never thought I'd find a large cent and don't know much about them..are these copper? I don't want to ruin any of these coins so I want to see how you guys have gone about cleaning these larger coins that aren't silver.
Also found:
Numerous relics: many different buckles, a thimble and other items I'll need help identifying
1964 D Washington
1917 Merc
1925 Merc
1909 Wheatie
1919 Wheatie
1951 Wheatie
Heart shaped neclace with a very large diamond in the center(I'm guessing its zirconia)
2 matching ear rings with diamonds along their outer edge..again I'm guessing they are zirconia.
A pile of clad.

Any help in cleaning these old 1800's coins would be very much appreciated. I want to keep them in as good a shape as possible.

 

[Aarong81]

Awesome finds! We want pics! Yes the large cent is copper and it is a Matron Head variaty. Its a pretty interesting coin and you may have heard of the 'Randall Hoard' that was discovered in 1867 that contained LOADS of 1818 to 1820 Matron Heads in UnCirc condition. Of course they were obsolete by then and large cents were not liked very much so these never got used. I don't get very aggressive at cleaning the older finds. I always figure if its ever worth anything down the road a professional can have at it at his own risk. If you have copper with really hard crust on it, don't pry at it because it will chip off the green underneath and look un-natural. I soak those in virgin olive oil, sometimes as long as a day or two. One IH cent soaked for about a week, it was toasty but eventually softened up enough to brush off the crust with a toothbrush. Less is best, just get the stuff off that doesn't risk scraping, scratching or chipping. Besides, anything well over 100 years old and dug from the ground shouldn't shine unless its silver or gold.

PS: I forgot to mention, We want pics! lol

 

[sasquache]

That is a sweet week ends haul bud

 

[Nancy-IL]

Fantastic finds! Can't wait to see them. Also for cleaning the old copper coins, we use three in one oil. It's a cleaning oil and very gentle.[attachment 226857 3inOneOil.jpg] Leave it over night and then use a soft toothbrush. It's already environmentally damaged, but if it's a high grade one, I wouldn't do much to it except for the light cleaning as I stated.

HH,
Nancy

 

[skateteacher]

Great finds! I'm curious as to what settings were you using to find them? I look forward to seeing the pics.

Dave

 

[Whitetail]

Ok...sorry it took so long, but as promised, here are some pictures of the finds from a couple weekends ago. Just never got around to posting the pictures and quite frankly...I had to research how to post pictures again. LOL.

I'm afraid to clean the large cent as I'm not sure whether I'll do more harm than good? What do you think Nancy?

The 1854 is in remarkable shape and as you can see, I didn't clean it yet. The centavo I'm not sure of whether I should try to get the brown layer off to get to the lighter brown layer below that? I see that in a lot of coins. Do you usually remove the dark layer on the coins?

 

[Whitetail]

Any recommendations on how to clean or whether I should even attempt to clean would be appreciated. I don't want to ruin them.
The large cent was simply brushed with a toothbrush...but after being buried for nearly 200 years time has taken its toll on the coin.
I'm not sure if I should soak it in oil as some have suggested or leave it alone. The 1819 is just discernable. The back is in much
better shape it appears.

Thanks for looking guys.

I'll have to post my more recent finds too. Went out the past two nights after work and have found 8 wheaties, 2 silver washingtons and 6 silver dimes.

 

[Nancy-IL]

WOW! Beautiful finds. You had a heck of a nice hunting experience. If it were me, I would soak the large cent in the 3 in One oil as posted in this thread. We always have it around. It's a good oil for cleaning and just about anything that needs oil. It doesn't go rancid like olive oil and it does have a cleaner on it. Then after a good soaking over night, use a very soft toothbrush to clean it. She won't be perfectly clean, but it will look much better. She's a beauty and you could use this method on the centavo also. I LOVE the thimble also. You had a great hunt.....Again, Congratulations and HH, Nancy