Impossible clean

Bit bored today so thought I would do a cleaning experiment after getting a sudden idea.

I turned this...



into this.....




No chemicals involved either, including any metal polish. Took just under an hour from start to finish.

I am on the hunt now for similar coins in an unrecognisable state, with no value of course so I can turn them into a nice looking coin again. I have also done it on what turned out to be a 1807 soho penny in a similar state to make sure it wasn't just down to luck.

I wish I took stage by stage pics, I will next time.

Not giving away my secret though  

How did you do it! That is really cool! I could definitely do that with a few of my coins.

I am not going to state just how its done simply because it can be very dangerous if you don't know what you are doing and I don't want to be responsible if injury happens.

I need to get some more so I can picture them step by step, maybe a video.  

This is the half penny that was similar to first pic.



EDIT : Found another candidate. not as bad as the one above but still worthy.


Just so you know it isn't a prank or late April fools.  This one is a little rushed as I started it at 1am and could be redone for a better result, but shows its transition.

How it started (This is after giving it a good clean with the Bicarbonate of soda method)



Stage 1



Stage 2



Stage 3



Stage 4



Finished!!! (shame its a low grade worn coin, looks better with higher grade like my first post)




I would never try this on valuable coins as there is a chance like any other method that the coin could react badly and end up worse.

Do you overheat them and freeze them to break the crust gradually? I mean; if no chems are involved then I could only thing about ultrasound or thermal-shock-therapy.

Citation: erdvillaDo you overheat them and freeze them to break the crust gradually? I mean; if no chems are involved then I could only thing about ultrasound or thermal-shock-therapy.

It took him about an hour with the one he rushed with, so I guess, heating /freezing is not what he's done as it would take way longer.

If this is kosher, and I don't think Fluke is the type to mislead anyone, then I'm going to have to revise my opinion regarding cleaning coins.

Citation: erdvillaDo you overheat them and freeze them to break the crust gradually? I mean; if no chems are involved then I could only thing about ultrasound or thermal-shock-therapy.

Kinda on the right track, Freezing doesn't play a part though, it is a type of thermal heating but set at a very specific Temperature ceiling, This is so we don't exceed the molecular make-up of bonded copper so it distorts or loses its natural underlying patina unlike polishing, It is a cleaning method I used in the electronics field to separate bonded flux and residue from copper based chips and other PCB related residue, Like the "Green Death" which also effects electronic components severely, that is when I had the idea to try on this coin. there is no scraping or rubbing involved until right at the very end where I use a cotton bud/cue tip to gently "buff" the coin to remove tiny traces of chalk like residue, it is also a time specific clean, take too long in each stage and the coin will be ruined, the coin is never touched by hand until the end.


The copper can literally explode in your face if you get it wrong, which will lead to very serious burns, That's why I wont give out the details on how to do it, I have over 20 years experience so the risk of injury is very very low for me.  

I absolutely love the 2nd to last stage because waves of different colours flow over the coin like a cuttle fish as the temperature gradually increases, this is also a sign the coin is clean of anything that was never part of the coin when it was made. (if you haven't seen cuttlefish use their colours then youtube "cuttlefish hypnotising prey"  ) the effect is just like that. a Blow lamp/torch is used at the end to check for any residue left on the coin not visible with the naked eye.

Citation: FlukeThe copper can literally explode in your face if you get it wrong, which will lead to very serious burns, That's why I wont give out the details on how to do it, I have over 20 years experience so the risk of injury is very very low for me.  

I can see at the next day in your local news "Another meth lab explosion causes severe burns on local resident. He was so high on his own product that all that he could say baffled was that he was heating coins". News anchor: "LOL, heating coins, he surely is pumped with that stuff"

Citation: Fluke

Citation: erdvillaDo you overheat them and freeze them to break the crust gradually? I mean; if no chems are involved then I could only thing about ultrasound or thermal-shock-therapy.

Kinda on the right track, Freezing doesn't play a part though, it is a type of thermal heating but set at a very specific Temperature ceiling, This is so we don't exceed the molecular make-up of bonded copper so it distorts or loses its natural underlying patina unlike polishing, It is a cleaning method I used in the electronics field to separate bonded flux and residue from copper based chips and other PCB related residue, Like the "Green Death" which also effects electronic components severely, that is when I had the idea to try on this coin. there is no scraping or rubbing involved until right at the very end where I use a cotton bud/cue tip to gently "buff" the coin to remove tiny traces of chalk like residue, it is also a time specific clean, take too long in each stage and the coin will be ruined, the coin is never touched by hand until the end.


The copper can literally explode in your face if you get it wrong, which will lead to very serious burns, That's why I wont give out the details on how to do it, I have over 20 years experience so the risk of injury is very very low for me.  

I absolutely love the 2nd to last stage because waves of different colours flow over the coin like a cuttle fish as the temperature gradually increases, this is also a sign the coin is clean of anything that was never part of the coin when it was made. (if you haven't seen cuttlefish use their colours then youtube "cuttlefish hypnotising prey"  ) the effect is just like that. a Blow lamp/torch is used at the end to check for any residue left on the coin not visible with the naked eye.

with your expertise, how long does it take you to do this?

Citation: erdvillaI can see at the next day in your local news "Another meth lab explosion causes severe burns on local resident. He was so high on his own product that all that he could say baffled was that he was heating coins". News anchor: "LOL, heating coins, he surely is pumped with that stuff"

OMG...LOL        

Citation: eitan190with your expertise, how long does it take you to do this?

It would take me just under an hour to do one coin, the thickness of the corrosion is irrelevant as each stage is time specific regardless of coin size as well, I can also do multiple coins at once.

Someone new to it would take 5-10 minutes before they need an ambulance, The corrosion fumes can be very nasty if inhaled.       


I would be happy to clean a coin for anyone here, if you are international then send a few of them to make it worthwhile. but again I reiterate that there can be a possibility that it can go wrong and the coin doesn't clean properly. (I am very confident it wont, but the disclaimer is just to cover myself   ) I wont charge anything and I would even pay the return postage, regardless where on this big ball of rock you are.

Citation: Fluke

Citation: erdvillaI can see at the next day in your local news "Another meth lab explosion causes severe burns on local resident. He was so high on his own product that all that he could say baffled was that he was heating coins". News anchor: "LOL, heating coins, he surely is pumped with that stuff"

OMG...LOL        

Citation: eitan190with your expertise, how long does it take you to do this?

It would take me just under an hour to do one coin, the thickness of the corrosion is irrelevant as each stage is time specific regardless of coin size as well, I can also do multiple coins at once.

Someone new to it would take 5-10 minutes before they need an ambulance, The corrosion fumes can be very nasty if inhaled.       


I would be happy to clean a coin for anyone here, if you are international then send a few of them to make it worthwhile. but again I reiterate that there can be a possibility that it can go wrong and the coin doesn't clean properly. (I am very confident it wont, but the disclaimer is just to cover myself   ) I wont charge anything and I would even pay the return postage, regardless where on this big ball of rock you are.

really? I have a few that could really use that. Do they have to be copper or can they be any metal?

Can you make a Youtube video of it haha? Maybe you can earn some extra's with it.

I have only done this method on copper components, but I can try it on another coin unless I see signs it would be dangerous and unstable.

 I don't have a coin other than copper to even test it, I would however assume that it wont work as efficiently as copper

Citation: jelleCan you make a Youtube video of it haha? Maybe you can earn some extra's with it.

Yeah until someone does it wrong and it blows up in their face and I get the blame.    

Haha yes!

you should start a coin cleaning business

Publish a patent :p

I have just bought over 8kg of bulk coins and a few copper unrecognisable lots, I will make sure I can do it with them all before I declare my method a success, I will also try it out on other metals, but I have a feeling it wont be as effective as copper.

If I suggest to collectors I can clean coins they will probably chase after me with pitch forks while yelling "off with his head"!!    

Bit of fun, this is one of the coins, it is slightly smaller than a 1806 soho half penny. It may be very worn underneath from the look of it, the rotation may not be correct either.

Take a guess as to what it is!  

There's always plenty of uncleaned ancients around.  Do you think your method would work with ancient Roman, Greek, Chinese cash, etc

I cant really say for sure, only one way to find out   , I have a Kwang tung 10 cash, no idea what year though 1900-1906 I think, but it has no corrosion or staining on it for me to test, it would just look the same as it started.

Would you be interested in cleaning swedish copper pennies from the 17th to the early 19th century?

Citation: kolikko99Would you be interested in cleaning swedish copper pennies from the 17th to the early 19th century?

I would be interested in swapping some...  

Citation: eitan190

Citation: kolikko99Would you be interested in cleaning swedish copper pennies from the 17th to the early 19th century?

I would be interested in swapping some...  

I can get them in bad condition for only a few euros a piece and they're always covered in very thick patina and are often unidentifiable because peasants hoarded swedish copper coins when Russia invaded Finland in 1809 and huge amounts of these copper coins are sometimes found buried under old houses

I see no reason why I cant give them a go, I cant make them look any worse.  

Found another candidate which I will be doing later today with more pics, I thought it was a poor grade coin and put it in the bottom of my junk box, looking at it closely the obverse hair on Victoria seems very fine in detail.



Although this one isn't "crusty" the detail is starting to go that way and I believe the shield will have fine detail as well.

keep us posted with some pics...that one looks like it will come up nicely

Well this one has turned out a little different.    

It seems this coin at some point has been sitting in some kind of oil which has soaked into the coin.

makes for a pretty colourful coin which is different tones on each side.




EDIT : treated the coin with flux, it acts as an oil separator with solder to help it flow better so gave it a shot on the coin. I didn't expect it to work but it did, go figure.  



It has very strange wear, like the shield for example looks badly worn, same with the trident, yet the ship and Britannia's clothing is sharp. The obverse detail looks very nice, especially the hair.

I am itching to get my hands on some really bad ones, these light cleans are less rewarding.

Any news?
We need the the recipe ...
to test
cause we also get verdigris

lol, I am afraid I cant share how I do it, If I tell you I will have to kill you.  

I haven't had many others to test recently, one verdigris coin I cleaned went deep, even though it got rid of it there were pits left in the coin surface so it didn't make any difference to the coin value.

 if majority end up like this then I will stop trying.

I can confirm my method only works effectively with copper or silver.

If you can get to the point where the process can be duplicated with a reasonable success rate it might be possible to transfer the patent to a company such as NGC's conservation department. I could imagine them being interested in an already refined process with predictable results.

Keep that secret firmly under wraps!

it is only about 75% success rate lately (as in total removal of all corrosion with no real visible damage left after), the verdigris if deep can be removed but you are left with moon like craters all over the coin. not much I can do about that without introducing chemicals, which is not an option obviously.

So strange how the first coin I did was covered in it, all that was left on that coin was tiny black dots where the verdigris was.

This is an example of what I mean, this coin was unidentifiable with one half totally green, the pits left after cleaning make it pointless to continue when it is this bad.



I did a 1902 British low tide penny slightly different today, cleaned up very well but it didn't hold up through the clean and a hairline crack appeared in the centre of the coin.

Hopefully I can tweak it better to get a higher percentage of success.

This is the 1902 low tide penny with the crack.

Fluke, is what you are removing actually verdigris, which in my understanding oxidation of the copper in the coin and therefore in my mind part of the coin, or environmental gunk that has been picked up over the years?

I think your work is beautiful, and have an Ionian 2 Lepta that could use your tender ministrations, but I still have that voice in the back of my head saying,

"Thou Shalt Not Clean Coins"

It may be an irrational voice, but it still shouts at me.

Not an irrational thought at all, I also agree you should never clean your coins unless they are little to no value to begin with.

You are correct that verdigris does stem from the oxidation and breakdown of the copper, but I have found some to be a little less advanced than they actually appear, so could me a mix of verdigris and some type of bacteria mixed in making it appear in much worse condition, the first post is a testament to that, my first experience with it is on copper electronic components which had to be cured of Verdigris or replaced, My method at least gives a bad coin a fighting chance instead of it being tossed and lost forever, you never know, that one coin could have been super rare even in a low grade.

But I would still suggest to anyone to not clean any coins unless they are unreadable and completely valueless. My method is still in its infancy stage with varied results dependant on how deep the verdigris penetrates, but I would still never clean a coin that has value to it. Even though one of the coins has been a 1902 low tide variety, the actual value is very little compared to its catalogue values.

I am thinking about offering a swap for some badly infected coins once I obtain better results, so if anyone has any, keep hold of them.

Can we send our coins to you for you to clean?

I wouldn't  like to be held responsible if it went wrong for any reason, so it would be completely at your own risk.

as long as you are aware of that then I see no reason not to attempt the clean for you. It will only work on copper so sending anything other than copper wont be cleaned.

Just wanted to let you know, I tried your method on my own, and it worked great! Even though I used a stove, I turned a beyond unidentifiable coin into something idable. This coin is actually quite rare, even in Poor condition.
Thanks for showing us!

Glad it worked for you  

It is well worth it if the coin has nothing to lose by firing it, cleaning valuable coins or doing this to valuable coins should be avoided unless it has nothing to lose or you plan on keeping the coin for many years to come.

I also want to address where I said the "Pit craters I cant do anything about without chemicals", I have now figured out how to remove the blackness in them and around without any chemicals. a soaked wooden toothpick under 100x zoom and gently rub at them. The soaking softens to toothpick so it isn't abrasive in any way. a result of this is in the IOM clean thread.