Verdigris treatment experiment

[JeffH]

Well, the end of the road?
Following are final pictures. The verdigris patches don't look (to the eye) quite as green as they appear in the photos -more grey to black.

Verdi-Care does seem to make a slight, subjective improvement in the appearance of verdigris affected coins. Where the verdigris is only very light it looks to be removed; where it is heavier, a dark stain remains. Where verdigris is very heavy the appearance is rather dark and scaling is still very obvious.
Verdi-care has no apparent affect on other marks/stains/discolouration.

Is it worth using? Possibly on an otherwise good coin with only light verdigris. If only because it may halt the future progress of the verdigris.
My opinion is that is removes little, if any, verdigris. I think it masks it, similarly to wetting it. An optical illusion, if you will.

I will put these coins away and have a look at them every now and then. If there looks to be any change I will report back.

The other product I used seems to produce a similar result -maybe slightly less. Picture follows.

Now I am off to try on some nickel-copper coins.







Jeff

[JeffH]

Well a few nickel/copper coins now that had green patches.
First photo of each pair is after cleaning with acetone and xylene. Next is after 12 hour soak with Verdi-care followed by 12 hour dry off.

Results look to be marginal to me. I think the acetone and xylene had more effect than the V-C. Pity I didn't think to get pictures before I hit them with acetone.

Now, where did I put those old, brass English threepences? I won't risk it with my brass Fiji coins.

Jeff
Do you see the cud on the Bradman?

[Nevol]

Do you see the cud on the Bradman?

On the Rev under the 2? Yep. Maybe even under the N as well.   Somewhere else, Nuh. :angel:

[JeffH]

That's it Nancy.
It is already heading your way.:ok:

Jeff

[Nevol]

That's it Nancy. It is already heading your way.:ok: Jeff

Thanks! :yahoo: I :give_heart: errors!

[coxsp]

Sorry to necro this thread, however I'm now revisiting my old verdigris infused coins and am wondering what to do with them.

Ultimately, the aim will be to either polish these coins using conventional copper polish and admire them for the error value or let the verdigris take over the coin completely, in which case it's not much good for anything at all.

I'm not going to bother with xylene as I don't have capacity to deal with it properly.

None of the verdigris coated coins are anything special, so their only value at the moment would be for error identification....hmmm.

I could be persuaded either way. I'd be interested to hear if anyone has any compelling suggestions one way or the other?

[MattGold]

I've been thinking along the same lines as well, I'm just going through looking for my doubles and cleaning those up error or no error. I would like to tidy up some of the die crack pennies but like you I'm unsure on what to do in that department lol.

Matt

[echidna]

Sorry to necro this thread, however I'm now revisiting my old verdigris infused coins and am wondering what to do with them.

Ultimately, the aim will be to either polish these coins using conventional copper polish and admire them for the error value or let the verdigris take over the coin completely, in which case it's not much good for anything at all.

I'm not going to bother with xylene as I don't have capacity to deal with it properly.

None of the verdigris coated coins are anything special, so their only value at the moment would be for error identification....hmmm.

I could be persuaded either way. I'd be interested to hear if anyone has any compelling suggestions one way or the other?

Try soaking in WD40.
 This will help get rid of green stuff and gunky grime.
 I would recommend this for cheap bronze coins only.
 Better quality stuff is better left in general.

[Robster]

I have soaked a few coins in Olive Oil, followed by soapy water then a bath of Acetone. All have been early pennies for my own collection and all have been die cracks. Time consuming but worthwhile in my opinion. :idea:

[Mister T]

I have soaked a few coins in Olive Oil

Have long for out of curiosity?

[Robster]

Some were pulled out after two weeks, some are still in after 4 weeks. Seeing as they are mainly real bad I figure I can't hurt them further.!!:dodgy:

[JeffH]

Revisiting this thread with a question.
Has anyone tried Armorall?
I put some bad NZ halfpennies in a sealed container and sprayed them with Armorall. Then forgot about them for several months.
Quite surprised at the subjective improvement in appearance -no obvious green patches and the darkest patches seemed lighter (more evenly toned looking). so, they actually don't look too bad now.
Only time will tell if they retain the improved look or, if they start reverting to previous appearance.

Jeff

[Mister T]

That's interesting. And the Armorall didn't give them orange-peel surfaces?

[Basil]

I have soaked a few coins in Olive Oil

Have long for out of curiosity?

I also soak Verdi. Coins in Olive Oil,i was told to do that by a dealer when i was at school in the 1960's so its been around as a remedy for a while.It can change the Patina depending on how acidic the oil is but it stops Verdi growing.
Normally a Month is long enough then a clean in water/mild soap and left to dry for a week or so.I currently have a badly pitted 1919 Double Dot soaking in oil,into the 3rd Month,i change the oil when its gets that green tinge.

[JeffH]

The Armorall leaves the coin with an almost wet looking sheen (so does VerdiCare) but no strange surface appearance.