Advice on 1808 1 franc. I may have damaged it with lemon juice

TrashMasterCCS

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Any advice or is the damage done? Before and after pics. The coin is very rough now. Any help is appreciated.
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First: what metal is the coin made from.
This determines what chemicals you may use and what you should never use.

Safest method is a water soak then with high magnification and a tooth pick to remove crust and dirt. Repeat until clean or remaining stuff is too herd to remove.
 
First: what metal is the coin made from.

This determines what chemicals you may use and what you should never use.



Safest method is a water soak then with high magnification and a tooth pick to remove crust and dirt.



It is a 90% silver coin


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First: what metal is the coin made from.

This determines what chemicals you may use and what you should never use.



Safest method is a water soak then with high magnification and a tooth pick to remove crust and dirt. Repeat until clean or remaining stuff is too herd to remove.



I accidentally left it in lemon juice for a solid 18 hours. Looking for a possible fix for its now rough exterior and blackened patina


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I accidentally left it in lemon juice for a solid 18 hours. Looking for a possible fix for its now rough exterior and blackened patina


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Lemon juice can pit silver making it rough- bad news is that if is what happened it can not be reversed since metal was removed.

Just looked up you find post to see pics of this coin before you tried to clean it.
Looks like the black was there and did not come off but the surface got rough.

If you want to try again I would go with the Aluminum foil and baking soda method. Do check for the sulfur smell to know the silver sulfide is being converted to silver and hydrogen sulfide. If you do not smell sulfur then this is not working.
This is the Galvanic method and converts the tarnish into hard metal.
Next method is electrolysis.

Or leave it alone until you get experience cleaning other silver with less value.
 
Lemon juice can pit silver making it rough- bad news is that if is what happened it can not be reversed since metal was removed.



Just looked up you find post to see pics of this coin before you tried to clean it.

Looks like the black was there and did not come off but the surface got rough.



If you want to try again I would go with the Aluminum foil and baking soda method. Do check for the sulfur smell to know the silver sulfide is being converted to silver and hydrogen sulfide. If you do not smell sulfur then this is not working.

This is the Galvanic method and converts the tarnish into hard metal.

Next method is electrolysis.



Or leave it alone until you get experience cleaning other silver with less value.



Thanks for the input. This post has before and after photos. The first lighter ones are before. The darker ones after. I figure at this point the baking soda foil trick can’t hurt.


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Thanks for the input. This post has before and after photos. The first lighter ones are before. The darker ones after. I figure at this point the baking soda foil trick can’t hurt.


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Yes, the Galvanic foil and baking soda is safest and also slowest.
Do sniff for the sulfur smell, this tells you that it is silver sulfide on the coin and it is being converted to silver and hydrogen sulfide.
Ag2S + H2 -> Ag + H2S

If you do not smell sulfur then the coin does not have silver sulfide and this method will not work. This may also indicate the coin is not silver.
Do not continue.
 
Yes, the Galvanic foil and baking soda is safest and also slowest.

Do sniff for the sulfur smell, this tells you that it is silver sulfide on the coin and it is being converted to silver and hydrogen sulfide.

Ag2S + H2 -> Ag + H2S



If you do not smell sulfur then the coin does not have silver sulfide and this method will not work. This may also indicate the coin is not silver.

Do not continue.



Awesome! Thanks again. I will post an update with my results in a few hours. I should probably stop cleaning my finds. But I love seeing the details of a coin. I guess I should try loving patina more. Lets hope this franc isn’t a counter fit made from something else [emoji51].


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Please lets us know how the foil method goes.



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So... My wife took photos of the coin after I left it in lemon juice over night. I guess she doesn’t know what contrast is. The coin looked almost the same as when I dug it. When I got home from work 3 days later I did foil, spit, and rub. This is the result. Im happy with the silver tone but will probably leave the patina next time. Just for the record if this was a more valuable coin I wouldn’t have cleaned it. Just trying to enjoy my find. To each there own [emoji16]



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Very nice looking coin. When I clean silver coins (not rare) and silver jewelry I use foil, baking soda, salt and boiling water. When they are quite tarnished it takes a few times but at the end you can just lightly rub them under running water to get rid of the last bit of sediment. HH
 
Great teamwork Guys! Its nice to see you got an assist from Forum Member Waltr! Really turned out great looking there TrashMaster! Great post and assist and final product! :bowdown:
 
Wow, that is amazing. Never heard of the foil trick, but thanks whoever suggested that.
 
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