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Cleaning an ‘As’ of Emperor Nero, minted 60s Ad.
Cleaning a relatively common “As” of Emperor Nero from 60s Ad. In lower grade, covered in deposits. Photo from eBay ad which made me think it was a good candidate for cleaning and quick improvement. Unfortunately the patina under the dirt was not what I was hoping for. This blog is more of a story…
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Cleaning an Antoninus Antioch Provincial with an orange “Desert Patina”
Quiet possibly my easiest clean that ended well. Simple as toothpick, brush and some tight work under a microscope. https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/4/7000
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Cleaning a Sestertius of Antoninus with Bronze Disease.
I purchased this coin on Ebay because I felt like the dirt and encrustations could be removed to display a lovely higher grade (~VF) sestertius underneath . Little did I know the coin suffered from Bronze disease eating its way down, hidden under a deposit. This is my first encounter with bronze disease (BD). This…
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When Cleaning a Rare “Commodus” from Carrhae results in an RPC listing being pulled.
Background I purchased this interesting provincial roman coin in a lot of coins from a local dealer. While I do believe I overpaid on average, I am very happy with the before and afters coming out of this lot. Like any hobby, cleaning coins costs money. It’s not common to find a rare coin dirty,…
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Cleaning a Silvered Antoninianus of Tacitus, 275 AD.
I purchased this coin as part of a larger lot of random bronze artifacts from various periods. Most of it was junk, but there were some interesting pieces. I purchased in part because of the Tacitus Double Denarius which was identified by a fellow roman coin enjoyer in a forum that I posted to. Below…
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“Star of Bethlehem” Trichalkon, under Augustus
Background/History I purchased this coin from an uncleaned coin dealer in early 2023 amongst a lot of other assorted 1st century bronze coins. I paid ~60 USD per coin in the lot, which is a tad north of their retail on average but that’s par the course for premium uncleaned coins. In the lot there…
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Cleaning a Sestertius of Emperor Marcus Aurelius
The sestertius as I purchased it I found this coin for sale on a bidding website. I purchased it for the higher price of 116 CAD or 80 Euro. I believe I was the only bidder. Even at minimum bid, this is about or around retail price for a piece in this condition (lots of…
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Process of cleaning ancient coin (Case Study)
1. Acquire some dirty coins Find a dealer that provides dirty coins. There are many categories of uncleaned ancient bronze coins 2. Image and Identify coin as best as you can before cleaning Taking Photos Taking good before photos is important in the process. It allows for you to later see before and after comparison.…
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What tools should you use?
Let’s cover the basics. Distilled Water Distilled water is great and safe for soaking ancient bronze coins. Most crusty ancient coins should soak in a glass jar for weeks if not months before you try to mechanically remove anything. Patience is key. The coin spent a millennia entombed in dirt. Give a few weeks in…
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Constantine the Great Campgate Bronze
Like many crusty bronze coins, it’s a gamble whether the surfaces below are stable. Patinas under these entombed dirt coins can be either perfectly preserved, patchy, or completely non-existent. Below you can see the condition of the coin before cleaning. Based on the reverse, it was very clearly a “camp gate” issue Constantine the Great…