Whenever somebody polishes ancient coins I wish they would display the dirty version beside it.
this post was submitted on 28 Jan 2025
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The very first time I ever saw an aureus up close irl it was kind of hard to believe it was real. The fine detail on the inscription, the portrait... looked like it came straight out of a laser engraver to my then-uneducated mind. Still baffling what they managed to pull off on such a scale.
Gold often comes out of the ground looking brand new, silver less so, and bronze usually not depending on the climate.
But I agree, would look cool.
There would usually be at least some sediments or calcium stuck to the surface.
I have some good news for you. There's a whole genre of cleaning videos.
This one uses the toothpick method. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSrEiwEIURM
This other guy demonstrates a cleaning with Andre's Pencils/Crayons. (I've used these on some stubbornly encrusted old Roman bronzes.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfOFal97uhc
There's another video of a guy using hypodermic needles and a microscope. It was very memorable, but I can't seem to find it.
Some of these videos show cleaning using applications of chemical-looking goo. I don't know anything about that, so I can't recommend it.
I dont care about the process or how they look, I just want them to display a before and after in museums for preservation of history
Ancient Roman coin pusher game.
