Big Pennies Bath

[George Kinsey]

Neglected to clean them. Placed them in motor oil and let sit a month. Maybe a hundred or so.

[oneguy]

That's a lot of LC's......!!!!!!  Cooool.....

[George Kinsey]

4 hours ago, oneguy said:

That's a lot of LC's......!!!!!!  Cooool.....

Yep. Thanks.

[Muddydogz]

Did it seem to help?  I've got a pile of them also and have tried the olive oil, mineral oil and hot peroxide baths and it seems that how they look coming out of the ground is how well they clean up. Some look great, some look poopie. 

[Cascade Steven]

Nice collection of large cents.  Just a question about cleaning:  would a mild solution of citric acid and a 9-volt battery assembly work?  I know that at one time several decades ago Whites electronics produced a coin cleaning product that used a battery (I believe 9-volt).  The coin was placed in the solution (citric acid in a glass container) and connected to one side of the battery, and the other side of the battery was connected to a piece of stainless steel.  I don't know if it worked, so I just asking the question out of curiosity.

[geof_junk]

A coin and gold seller I know said he takes out all the rarer copper coins and throws the rest in a tumbler with glass beads and demineralised water. I like to leave copper coins as the are after a gentle wash. A good soak in Demin. water with smear of soap for a week or so, then a soft tooth brush for the ones that I keep.

[George Kinsey]

13 hours ago, Muddydogz said:

Did it seem to help?  I've got a pile of them also and have tried the olive oil, mineral oil and hot peroxide baths and it seems that how they look coming out of the ground is how well they clean up. Some look great, some look poopie. 

Yes. But you have to soak them for a month or more to remove the soil and crud. It will never reveal the actual copper. Caution!

[George Kinsey]

7 hours ago, Cascade Steven said:

Nice collection of large cents.  Just a question about cleaning:  would a mild solution of citric acid and a 9-volt battery assembly work?  I know that at one time several decades ago Whites electronics produced a coin cleaning product that used a battery (I believe 9-volt).  The coin was placed in the solution (citric acid in a glass container) and connected to one side of the battery, and the other side of the battery was connected to a piece of stainless steel.  I don't know if it worked, so I just asking the question out of curiosity.

I only use electrolysis on iron objects.

[George Kinsey]

4 hours ago, geof_junk said:

A coin and gold seller I know said he takes out all the rarer copper coins and throws the rest in a tumbler with glass beads and demineralised water. I like to leave copper coins as the are after a gentle wash. A good soak in Demin. water with smear of soap for a week or so, then a soft tooth brush for the ones that I keep.

Since my sites are colonial, I have found many rare copper

coins so I have never owned a tumbler. If you want to ruin a copper you just field dug try not to clean it. 

[Badger-NH]

I've never tried motor oil. I would think it would turn them black, especially used motor oil. Twenty years ago, everyone used olive oil which I finally concluded doesn't work at all and just leaves them dirty and stinky. These days, I just scrub them under the faucet with stainless steel wool and some soap and I'm happy with that.

Out of hundreds of Large Cents found I've only dug two in good condition. They had almost zero corrosion with just a light surface coating of green oxidation. I put them through electrolysis which made them look shiny new. After a few years or so, they toned to a beautiful caramel brown. When they reached the tone I was happy with, I coated them with Ren Wax.