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Cleaning silver /gold coins encased in conglomerate?

Pete e

Elite Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2019
Messages
732
Location
North Wales, UK
Not that I have any, but after watching a TV programs about some of the treasures recovered along the Florida coast, I was curious about this?

The program talked about dissolving away the iron conglomerate to possibly reveal a silver or gold coin inside?

I am just wondering can this sort of thing be done at home and if so how? Or is it a specialist job best undertaken by professional Conservators?
 
From what I've seen, silver coins, gold coins, Sterling silver jewelry and gold jewelry come out of the soil here in great shape, just wash off and perhaps rub a bit. If you are land hunting should be the same for you in Wales. I've seen YouTube vids of detectorists back in the UK and the silver and gold coins come up as clean as the day they were lost.
 
From what I've seen, silver coins, gold coins, Sterling silver jewelry and gold jewelry come out of the soil here in great shape, just wash off and perhaps rub a bit. If you are land hunting should be the same for you in Wales. I've seen YouTube vids of detectorists back in the UK and the silver and gold coins come up as clean as the day they were lost.

Yes, I would agree with you...The iron concretion I mentioned is a "covering" if you like, that coats silver or gold coins that have been in sea water a long time...From what I have seen, the coin comes up encased in a ball of the stuff...There is sometimes that much iron in the concretion that the coins are masked by the iron and end up being missed by detectorists, but can be recovered via magnet fishing....

You do get a similar effect on Roman silver coins that have been in dry ground, but the "coating" looks more like a thin layer of cement ( not iron or rust)and it can be picked off if you are careful. Because this coating is non metallic, it does not mask the coin from a detector, but when it's dug, many people think they have a bronze coin when really it's silver....
 
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