Coinsandcanada.com

Hello Everyone,

I've been hunting out coins lately hoping to find something nice but it seems every coin I pull up has not been well preserved after sitting in the dirt for so long.

Does anyone have any Idea what I can do for these coins so they are at least visible?

Thanks in advance

What date is the Vicky? You can try some soaks in pure olive oil ... that works on silver Roman coins. Maybe they will get a little better, but silver reacts to many different minerals/compounds in the soil and they will never look bright and shiny. If you have some old worthless coins that you found before, you can try some MS-70 to see if removes much of the dark patina. If the results are good, then you can try it on the Vicky .. I don't think the Ed will amount to much because of the rim damage.

The Vicky is a common 1899 , if these coins weren't so dark then they would make for some nice additions . It's interesting to try and clean them with those methods , this is not quite what I was expecting.

I will try the olive oil method that you suggest and leave them sit for a couple days , I'll repost new pics with the results and we will find out , Thanks Bill

Well I left them overnight and there is some change but is certainly not amazing results , they are more damaged than I thought , likely the dirt hiding imperfections

Given that you dug them out of the ground I think they're fairly awesome!

Yes they are great for my first silver found , couldn't believe that coins over 100 years old were just sitting there , found them just outside my local library

I used to metal detect long long ago ... more than 45 years back and also dug for bottles in the old Cal gold towns/fields. My best for metal detecting were, first, local areas from small/midsized towns where there were fairs/gatherings, etc, then very old small cemeteries somewhat out in the country, and finally old school play areas and parks. Your coins look better than some of the stuff that I used to dig up. Actually, just some silver polish/dip carefully done will remove some of the dark areas, but don't leave it on/in very long ... more measured in seconds, not minutes or hours.

I have been spending all winter looking up my next dig sites , it's been an exciting and rewarding hobby so far and I have enjoyed looking into the history to find old homes stores or other potential sites of interest

It does seem as if these small coins were super easy to lose so I dont expect to find any bigger denominations.

I will be looking into fairs and old parks and you suggest , I have spoken to many property owners for permission to hunt their land , everyone has been surprisingly accommodating with my requests and let me keep everything I find. I look forward to when I can drive and access abandoned towns as well.

For these ones I guess I will try out silver polish when I can get my hands on it , thanks again for the wisdom Bill