Seated Lady rescued

[gameoftag]

I figured I would start a new thread to show the progress I made today cleaning the seated dime I found this weekend.
Still excited that i found this. Here is the post of the details of the hunt that gave up this dime:
http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=87357

It had been under a sidewalk for so many years that it had a dark sulfide build up. Tried a cleaning method new to me, and here are the results (thanks to Milco for the tip):

How it looked right out of the ground:


After a soak with soap and water and a light brushing:


Soak Number 2 (glass bowel lined with tin foil filled with baking soda and water)


Soak Number 10


Soak Number 15


Soak Number 20


Soak Number 25 (Dark area appeared in top corner so I decided to stop)


I'm so thrilled to have found this. These are hard to come by where I am from.

[WildDigger]

Nice job cleaning. How long did each soak take and was there a wait in between?

[joee5]

Excellent job saving her but as mentioned above, how long are the soak periods?

[bazeball7]

Very nice find, and a good job cleaning her up.

[Greek2Me]

WOW! What a difference! Nice! Please share the soaking details. Time spent soaking each time, did you brush after each soak? Did you air dry before resoaking or just toss it back in? Did you use the same batch of solution or did you get new solution for each soak?

Thanks!
G2M

[milco]

That turned out real nice! I like the pictures of progress through the process. I bet it took awhile but it looks good!

[rjjdog]

filthy, dirty, semi to excellent. Cool find and good clean job.

[gameoftag]

I got this from another forum, that Milco told me about: I just did a search for sulfide buildup.

Here is the the method I found and used:

Needed: Baking soda, distilled water, aluminum foil, and a glass dish.

Boil the water. Line the inside of the dish with the aluminum foil, shiny side up, and lay the coin on it. Add two tablespoons of baking soda to one quart of boiled water. Mix in well. Now slowly pour the water into the dish, making sure the coin is fully submerged. Allow the coin to soak for 10 minutes. Remove the coin and under running water use the softest toothbrush you can find to lightly brush the coin. Avoid rubbing the coin with your fingers. Much of the sulfide will come off, but there may be some remnant, depending on how heavily the coin is tarnished.

The above procedure may have to be repeated several times to fully remove the heavy sulfide from the coin. Wash the cleaned coin with distilled water and pat dry with a cotton towel. Avoid any rubbing motion!

Again, it might take several tries on a heavily tarnished coin, but the method does work well. It does not make the coin 'shiny', allowing it to retain its 'aged' look.

[gameoftag]

I ended up adding 5 minutes to the time, and i wonder if the little shiny flakes on the coin are a result of that. I will probably stick to 10 minutes from now on. I also re-lined the dish every single time and used a new solution. Not sure if the re-lining was necessary.

[goes4ever]

great cleaning job, looks 100% better!

[Jason in Enid]

You did a great job on cleaning that coin. You have a LOT of patience to leave it so dirty from the ground to avoid scratching it.

[dogpound]

great cleaning job

[Salt*Life]

Very nice !!!

[Mainelypulltab]

Very nice find and cleaning job. Those are hard to come by anywhere on the planet, I think. HH!

[FoundInNC]

Excellent find! Really good shape for 1853!