coins cleaned with electrolysis

[Victor]

This coin looked pretty rough, so I decided to try electrolysis. It turned out pretty good, but I did have to repatinate some spots that showed bare metal.



Julian II
A.D. 360-363
25x26mm    8.5gm
DN FL C IVLI-ANVS P F AVG; pearl-diademed, draped, & cuirassed bust right.
SECVRITAS REIPVB; Bull, head facing, standing right; above, two stars; at right, eagle standing on wreath, holding another wreath in beak.
In ex. SCONST
RIC VIII Arles 318

[tjaart]

That came out quite good! I think at some point I might have to try it on some of my more stubborn, uncleaned coins.

[Victor]

Unfortunately not all coins turn out so well. If you plan on using electrolysis, you should always expect that you could ruin the coin. Often when you remove the surface encrustations you are left with an ugly pitted mess of a coin. You know the old saying "garbage in, garbage out."

[Victor]

here's two more

[tjaart]

I agree with that. I do however have a large amount of uncleaned coins that simply did not react to any treatment so far. Maybe sometime in the future I might try some electrolysis. In general I try to steer away from it.

Btw, what do you do with all your really ugly, pitted, or completely unidentifiable coins? I have a some which are just lying around with no hope of being identified.

[Victor]

For really poor condition coins, I put them in a large jar. I have several thousand that have accumulated over the years. Sometimes I give a few away to people if they want some low quality coins to practice cleaning, otherwise I just add to the hoard.

[Victor]

not an LRB, but here is the latest coin that I cleaned. I stripped it and repatinated it.

Titus
A.D. 79- 81
Æ Sestertius
34x35mm    25gm
IMP T CAES DIVI VESP F AVG P M TR P P P COS VIII; laureate head right.
PAX AVGVST S-C; Pax standing left, holding a branch in her right hand and cornucopiae in her left.
RIC II 498 (Eastern mint, possibly Thrace)

[Roety]

I have 100 uncleaned coins coming from overseas,  wanted to know how you do the electrolysis.   is there a link for a DIY setup.
Thanks

[Victor]

I feel I must warn you that electrolysis can potentially ruin your coins...I have ruined many over the years.

Having said that, I will explain my setup.

I use an old adapter, cut the ends off and attached a red and black clip. The container is a glass dish used for cooking meatloaf (I like the shape of it) and I use an old knife for the cathode. Fill container 3/4 full of warm water and add salt for the electrolyte. Use less for slower reaction and more salt for quicker. Put knife in container with one end sitting up out of the liquid and attach black clip to the end out of water. Attach red clip to coin and lower into water until coin is submerged. Now plug in adapter IMPORTANT don't do the above steps with it already plugged in and always unplug/ turn off before touching anything. I use a power strip to plug in the adapter with a table lamp, so I know if the light is on, electricity is flowing--it's only safe when the lamp is off.

If you have the black and red clips wired correctly, bubbles will come off the coin. If the knife is bubbling, reverse the clips. Periodically turn off power and check coin-- brush in sink with water and check progress. The water also needs to be changed after a bit, as it gets pretty dirty.

Take is slowly and be careful...all coins are different, some will clean up nicely and others will not. It is a process of trial and error...good luck.

[Romanvs.Coinicvs]

May I ask... what is used to create the new patina?

Thank you.

[Victor]

You are trying to not completely strip the coin, but often you get some bare metal. I use Deller's Darkener which is no longer sold, but you can find similar products like Brimstone Coin Darkener. Both of these have sulfur mixed with pertroleum jelly, which will darken the bare metal.

There are also products like Jax which can be used to give different color patinas like brown or green.

I have to add, it is considered unethical to repatinate a coin and sell it without disclosing what was done.

[Romanvs.Coinicvs]

Thank you; I completely understand.

May I email you with some specific questions?

[Victor]

sure, you can email me-- victors@vcoins.com