Search

Soft picks are made from wood, bamboo, or even thorns. Conversationalists hired by museums often use thorns. They're significantly softer than the metal the coins are made from and its much harder to damage a coin when cleaning with them.

• Thorns: They're put in a pin vise and used to pick away at the dirt. This can be seen in a video of depicting the cleaning of the staffordshire hoard (not coins) cleaning videos.
• Toothpicks: The first 5-10 pokes/jabs with them against a coin are decently effective.
• Bamboo skewers: I find them more effective than thorns and toothpicks and they're easy to sharpen over and over.

When it comes to cleaning with these there are two considerations, do you use them with the coin wet/damp or do you use it dry. Different cleaners prefer one of there other and my preferences often change. Sometimes wet appears to work better and other times dry appears to work better... I start dry and switch to wet if I feel I'm not making great progress.

As for how to use these... you can rub them along the surface. (its important to not bare down when doing this) or you can place the point against a "pile" or some obvious dirt and apply pressure to it. This can be risky even with soft tools and without magnification or experience you're likely to eventually remove features from the coin. This is unfortunate but inevitable, that is why its important to start with low quality coins while you build experience.

The reality is that soft picks are rarely effective when it comes to the coins I've received. I assume because all the coins that aren't encrusted with minerals and hard deposits were picked out from finds long before I have the opportunity to buy them. That being said if you don't have a microscope or some magnifier then these picks are really the best/safest tools you can use. If you use a soft pick to rub the surface between water changes then over a few months you can get a coin surprisingly clean. This is the slow but safe method to cleaning coins.

I primarily use glass containers. I figure glass is less likely to leach anything into the water & reduce the effectiveness of the distilled water as a solvent. I also have an affinity for glass containers and find them satisfying to work with. I use containers I purchased from a kitchen store that I believe are intended to be used to store spices. They look like this:

!

They're water tight and the rubber seals come in different colors to help differentiate one from the other. I put a paper label on the top where I write the type of coins, the count, and the batch number (row number in the spreadsheet I use to track cleanings, soak time, and last water change date).

What type of containers do you use?

When I was a child, my family moved to the woods where our house relied on a well for water. Unfortunately, the well water didn't taste very good; consequently, my father decided to install an RO system. Discontent with the upkeep cost of the RO system, he bought a countertop water distiller, similar to this one. You fill it with a gallon of water and sometime later you get a gallon of distilled water that tasted significantly better than the tap water. We would then transfer this water into a jug (with a tap) and store it in the fridge. Growing up drinking water from that jug, I developed a preference for the taste of distilled water. As a result, when I moved out, I bought a countertop distiller, which I continue to use today.

When I started this hobby, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that distilled water is arguably the most utilized tool in the field. I had virtually an endless supply on hand. Distilled water is an excellent tool for cleaning ancient coins. It serves as a gentle solvent that doesn't damage the coin but allows many of the deposits on ancient coins to leach into the water. This process softens the deposits, making them easier to remove. However, the water must be replaced regularly as it works best when fresh. This is because, as minerals and compounds dissolve into the water, it becomes a less effective solvent, and eventually, the water and deposits reach equilibrium. It is commonly suggested to replace the water every few days. However, I tend to replace mine every few weeks to once a month, due to either forgetfulness or a lack of diligence.

• How often do you change the water in which your coins are soaking?
• What is your source for distilled water?
• Do you use something else for long-term soaks?
• Do you soak your coins at all?