JamminJ, Hoot, Shiroh: Any Update on Olive Oil Cleaned Ancients?

[Architecht]

I did this once with some ancients and never got any interesting result. Same as you guys, just some corrosion that came off in the oil, but no visible change in the coins.

[shirohniichan]

One change I should note is that one coin has turned turquoise in color and others have developed small turquoise spots.

[JamminJ]

One change I should note is that one coin has turned turquoise in color and others have developed small turquoise spots.

 

I have a few like that too. It's bright and very pretty!

[TJ]

I think you guys need to try something a little stronger than olive oil. Olive oil is for generally good coins that have a few little blotches. Try sudsy ammonia, CLR, a tumbler is rather gentle, alot of guys like NAVAL JELLY.

[Hoot]

Zippo chango. What's the deal? I've now tried two cheap brands of olive oil. I'm about to take TJ's suggestions.

 

Hoot

[shirohniichan]

I'll try the sudsy ammonia on the crappier coins to see what happens. It will be a cold day in hell before I put anything from my navel on a coin, though.

[TJ]

I'll try the sudsy ammonia on the crappier coins to see what happens. It will be a cold day in hell before I put anything from my navel on a coin, though.

Properly done electrolysis can work wonders. Get my instructions, "Get Huge Chunks of Crud Off Coins and Feel Like Mr. Wizard" only $19.95 for instructions. A kit with all the apparatus plus instructions is available for $99.95, free s/h to members here.

[shirohniichan]

I thought electrolysis was for removing leg hair.

[TJ]

I thought electrolysis was for removing leg hair.

Maybe I'm not using the correct term.

[kryptonitecomics]

I have about 50 Ancients in some Extra Virgin Olive oil myself..........only been 2 weeks though.

 

I try hooking them up to an AC adapter and the crud came off but you can see where it pitted the surface of the coin......I think I will just wait but here is the coin it pitted:

 

 

The pictures aren't as clear as I usually take which is strange...but the coin is small so that probably has something to do with it. Stll plenty of detail to attribute the coin though I don't have a book or anything

[Architecht]

Are the uncleaned ancients that you can get pretty much guaranteed common-as-dirt coins? My impression has always been that people who know what they're doing would screen the coins and take out the valuable ones, and basically just sell the uncleaned stuff that was so low quality/value that it's not even worth the time for them to clean them.

 

True?

[gmarguli]

I'm guessing that for the most part this is true. They never say unsearched, just uncleaned. This entire lot that was purchased was a little over 1,000 coins and I got to look thru the entire lot before dividing it up. It appeared all the silver that was included was either holded, damaged, or of extremely low condition. All the big coins were pretty nasty with the occasional decent looking one - probably something very common. Most of the coins were very small and I'd guess small coins are unlikely to have great value. I'd guess that if the actual lot being sold wasn't picked thru, someone did do a sampling from the coins found in that specific dig area.

 

However, Thing did say if one of the coins I had cleaned up, it'd be a $50 coin.

[Architecht]

So the bottom line is that if you're enjoying the discovery process as a hobby (i.e. your labor isn't a cost) that it's worth the money in that you may break even on your purchase. But if you're a business trying to get value for your time it's not worth it.