Advice for getting green off this liberty cap

dib

Any advice for getting some of the green off this corroded liberty cap would be appreciated. Would mineral oil or water be of any help? It looks like a dug coin... has anyone here had any luck conserving a similar-looking coin before?

VanHalen

Try Verdi-Care.

Wizard Supply

LanLord

I'd be careful trying to remove that.

What you uncover may be more unsightly than the green itself.

Broadstruck

Soak it in mineral oil and place it on a warm window sill for a couple weeks.

Since the surfaces can't be hurt you can then gently run a oil soaked q-tip over the oiled surfaces to remove all the green.

Then just pad it dry pinching it between a soft cotton towel repeating until all the oil is off.

There's no need to use a chemicals to degrease and a product like verdi-care would change the overall color of the planchet.

coinkat

Tough call... I think LL might be right. Efforts to improve may be catastrophic

DIMEMAN

I opened this thinking it would be about getting the CAC thingy off.

Walkerguy21D

I agree with Broadstruck....I don't think you will hurt it, but I also don't think you'll really get much of the green off,
and the pitted surfaces will still be there.
I do think the mineral oil treatment will make the coin darker overall.
Kind of a toss up whether its worth doing or not.

Broadstruck

<< <i>I agree with Broadstruck....I don't think you will hurt it, but I also don't think you'll really get much of the green off,
and the pitted surfaces will still be there.
I do think the mineral oil treatment will make the coin darker overall.
Kind of a toss up whether its worth doing or not. >>



Yeah only the top green cast will come off yielding a overall deeper brown planchet.

Mineral oil will in no way hurt this as it may be a bit porous but it's not brittle or plagued with any sort of lamination issues.

TPRC

Even with the problems, its a pleasing looking coin.

coinkat

Is there a new Icon Gap?

dib

Into mineral oil it goes... yeah I'm not expecting it to perform any miracles on this coin, but I just really want some green off.

If soaking it in mineral oil for a week and gently using a q-tip on it doesn't help at all, I may try Verdi-Care. It's not a butt ugly coin in hand, it's a bit darker than the pictures show.

The neck definitely seems to be the most corroded part, and I just hope that removing the green from the obverse doesn't reveal a similar-looking surface.

Coin Finder

I would leave it as is.....

lordmarcovan

<< <i>Even with the problems, its a pleasing looking coin. >>

I agree. I don't find it particularly objectionable.

Follow Broadstruck's advice if you like- that seems fairly sound- but otherwise, I wouldn't mess with it much. It's OK as it is.

ricko

I agree with Broadstruck (and LordM).... just a gentle oil soak.... removal may make it look a tad worse, but should stop further deterioration. Cheers, RickO

lkeigwin

Much as I like Verdicare it won't work on anything that old.

I would have said there is little hope for removing that verdigris, and recommended you apply some Blue Ribbon or Coincare and live with it. But a mineral oil bath has no downside. Go for it.

Let's see some "after" pix.
Lance.

DaveWcoins

<< <i>I would leave it as is..... >>



+1

guitarwes

Not a bad coin to begin with. I second the motion to let it go for an extended swim in mineral oil.

Walkerguy21D

Adding that apart from the condition and possible treatments already discussed, it appears to be
a Sheldon 78 (Plain Edge variety), R1.

steveben

<< <i>

<< <i>I would leave it as is..... >>



+1 >>



+1

why try to remove it? it will look worse.

DollarAfterDollar

I'd go the mineral oil path just to arrest the green. If not a hundred years from now the coin might be dust.

OldEastside

I'd leave it as is

Steve

StrikeOutXXX

I would probably just leave it as-is, whoever dug that up looks like they have tried to restore it with a few methods already, but....

After you soak it in Mineral Oil - if it still hasn't removed the green enough to your satisfaction, I would treat it as a metal detector find then.

By that I mean - I WOULD NEVER DO THIS WITH A COLLECTOR COIN - but, when I dig up green Indian Heads and other coppers, it works wonders.

As others have said with any method, you remove the green, you still may have the pitted, discolored copper/dark colors underneath.

But, since you said you were aware of that, and your main goal is to get rid of the green, here's what I'd do.

1) You need to get rid of all of the oil first, or this won't work. Soak, rinse, light swab, etc just remove it - would have better to do this before the Mineral Oil.

A) Get a small glass bowl, preferable with a concave bottom (something between the size of spray paint can lid and a small butter tub)
Pour about 3/4 - 1 inch (enough to cover coin) of your over the counter 3% Hydrogen Peroxide in the bowl
C) Put the bowl in your microwave for (depends on your wattage) 30-45 seconds or so, just until it gets a light boil action going
D) Careful, bowl will be hot, but take bowl out of microwave, and drop the coin in.

You will see serious bubbling action, as anything non-coin begins to loosen and be removed. I typically leave each side up until it stops bubbling (10-20 minutes or so?) then take the coin out and repeat.

I usually reheat the Peroxide and repeat with the other side. If there is debris in the solution already I'll swap the solution out.

Sometimes a light rolling of a q-tip wet with peroxide will help loosen the bad stuff. Hard to guess with your coin, but 2-3 times on each side will probably get you in the ballpark of what you were looking for.