Voila, smoky residue removed!

rwyarmch

Rather than leave well enough alone, I opted to remove what appeared to be smoky residue from my new grasshopper
Conder token (Middlesex 904). Here are the before (EBay "as struck") and after images (tilted to illuminate the fields).





Maybe 200 years in a pin box?! Die rust? Planchet flaws? Sand blasting? All of the above?!

sliderider

Jeezus, what did you use on it?? My first thought when I saw the after pic, though was that someone applied something to the surface of that coin to cover all the pitting and give it a natural toned look, but I suppose a chemical might cause damage like that. You were right, you should have left it alone. I hope you didn't dip that. Coin dips aren't meant for use on copper or bronze. It eats them right up.

1jester

R, what a fascinating case you have here! Thanks for sharing.

Please give us more information. Were the marks which are visible in your "after" image present on the coin prior to removing the smoky residue? What did you use to remove the residue, and did it remove it? Are there any color changes on the coin? Does the coin now still retain its toning? I suspect that you might have used acetone, which is inert and won't harm the coin. It doesn't appear that you used anything abrasive or acidic because I don't see the telltale pink that would result had you done that. So far it looks like you have not damaged the coin at all.

I see several interesting aspects of the coin's planchet in your "after" image. First of all, I see millions of little squiggly lines, and I can't identify them. Next, I also see some sort of bubbling, which could be the result of a cheap cast imitation/counterfeit. Scratch that idea, however, since the coin is genuine. Those little circular indentations I suspect are from a rusted die. Consistent with this, I also parallel lines which are most assuredly die polish lines, and this supports the idea that the die was old and deteriorated. I'm still perplexed as to the meaning of the squiggly lines all over the coin, but they too might be artifacts of an old and defective or worn die. On the other hand, they also might indicate a defective planchet - maybe incorrectly mixed, or porous. It's hard to say without seeing the coin in hand. Please give us a more detailed description.

I don't think you were wrong to try to conserve the coin, and I don't think you did any harm to it. If I weren't such a novice, I'd be able to give you some concrete answers.

Blackhawk

I like it...the piece has a bug on it and the surface looks like a piece of wormwood or some other fibre that's been got at by insects.

rwyarmch

When I did my own photographs (below), I noticed roughness of the planchet and blotchy toning
on the obverse but no squiggles (even on the second image with the fields illuminated.) After an
acetone bath, they were pretty obvious. The token is still brown albeit a bit deeper. Genuine,
restrikes, copies?-It gets a little murky with Conders. I confess, I'm starting to like it again!

After reading the comments, I went back and looked at the only other decent image of a
Middlesex 904 I had to see if, perhaps, the spirit of the token's motto "Fine teas of the rough flavour"
might have been factored into etching of the fields. Alas, no evidence of that in the other example.