Ancient coins for Christmas

laceupboots

My daughter gave me a lot of ancient roman coins for Christmas some of them were already cleaned and in flip cards but some of them are raw.
How do I clean these coins so I can find out what they are? Can I use a regular coin cleaner?

Aethelred

I have never really cleaned ancient coins, but I understand many people will place them in olive oil for an extended period of time.

JamminJ

Olive oil will work but it takes a very long time. I've had some soaking for just over a year and I'm just starting to get a few that I'm happy with. If you're in a rush you can clean them by electrolysis but this will pit the surfaces. Might be worth a shot if you have any broken or damanged coins.

FilamCoins

I get a kick out of someone with this signature line asking questions about ancient coins. It seems ironical to me.



This forum is fun!

laceupboots

I've never really been into ancient coins but my oldest daughter is into ancient history, and mythology and when she found out that I was collecting Walkers well.... I guess she thought it would be interesting for me, and it will be. I will try the olive oil, should I leave them uncovered or can I put them in a jar and put a lid on it? Thanks for your advice.

coinmickey

You might want to ask forum member CIVITAS about this. He's our resident ancients expert/guru....

ColinCMR

i've had good results with the olive oil method.

just place them in a cup or jar and fill it until they are all covered, you don't need to put tons in. And let it sit in a cabinet or something. Every month or so you can put new oil in and check to see if the gunk is loosening up. It's best not to try and scrape it off, but eventually even really encrusted coins will clean up. The dirt sometime comes off in little junks that you'll see in the oil. Giving them a good rinse can get the oil off of them so you can see if detail is coming out and you can try IDing them.

makes me want to order a bunch more and soak them.

good luck!

JamminJ

I put mine in a thermos. Every evening it gets a little shake and monthly the oil gets changed.

mojoman

Hi,I collect roman coins and have tried these things, hot olive oil soak,soak,soak,if it is light.
Also this is what they sell on ebay ,a 9 volt battery 2 wires and 2 alligator clips and a chemical called TSP you can get it at any hardware store,it is for cleaning aluminum siding I have used it and it works the best, 3 cups hot water 2 tablespoons of tsp(its cheap) stir attach 1 clip to coin 1 in solutionand the other ends 1 on pos/1 on neg and watch it come off ,you can swithch to positive and negitive to get other relults they sell this KIT on ebay 15-25 ,the whole thing from the hardware store should be less than 7.00 and they will be alot of chemicals left, ALso do it in the garage or shed ,use a nylon brush it works faster , use a wire or nylon brush first for heavy soiled coins it helps to loosen the crud ,Let me know if this helps,MoJo