How fascinating Alex! When I was a kid on west coast of Vancouver Island we dug a huge hole in our carport. Digging our way to China no doubt? We found a hoard of what we called very strange pennies. Turned out to be Spanish coins dated 1760's The Spaniards had come up the west coast. Surprising how far up from the Alberni canal that the hoard was. This Piqued a lifelong interest in antiquities for me.
I feel sad that you used chemicals on those Roman coins. Distilled water only, I have cleaned hundreds of roman coins, Each one can take up to 4 to 6 hours if you have the patience, Using chemicals causes pitting on the coin and it does not look good, Do it properly & you will be rewarded Love your work.🙂
I agree @eddieboulos6791 , and if you search the coin talk website, there is a whole page full of people submitting their variations and more information around it.
12 years.. such a short period of history and there it is, a real coin from way back then. I wonder how many coins from us will ever be found.. I mean, we mostly pay digitally now. Cash is getting more rare by the day. Future archeologists might assume we reverted to "no money just trade" or something. Would WE assign our ancestors computer skills and digital money?
@SwirlingSoul I suppose that up to certain decades, pennies will be found everywhere. In middens, dumps, churches, the mysterious horizontal tunnels dotted near historical sites, etc. Of course, in a drought stricken future, future humans have no idea what wishing wells are. 😅😂🤣
that can't be justin ii, looks to me like an isaurian or later, definitely not before. the art style is very similar to that of leo iii/constantine v-.
The unknown coin is probably an early Byzantine coin - I don't know which one it is. The M, means it's 40 nummi, according to the Greek numbering system. These are also known as follis. The follis was reintroduced as a large bronze coin (40 nummi) in 498, with the coinage reform of Anastasius, which included a series of bronze denominations with their values marked in Greek numerals. Edit: Based on the crosses above their heads, my guess is the two figures are Heraclius and Heraclius Constantine, from 610-641. It's similar to a follis from Nikomedia.
I asked my cousin whom collects ancient coins, before I read your comment. He seems to have the same answer. I'm sure Alex will appreciate this, and run with it.
This is one of my areas of expertise, been cleaning ancients for 20 years and the golden age is gone. Now uncleaned coins are picked over so badly you really do get mostly junk unless you know where a few good sources are. Reall the goal is to preserve the coin with its green/brown/black smooth patina, because the patina has displaced the surface detail in most cases. Your solution stripped the patina leaving not many good coins. The one at 6:58 looks a bit better because it has silver content. Its an Antoninianus of emperor Aurelian. The coin at 8:10 looks like Valens (can't read the legend completely) and is a common late Roman empire type. Stripped of patina its not much more than a curiousity but its got nice detail for the type. 12:28 is a campgate of Constantine I and you can see the mint mark, it was struck at Siscia. Your enigma coins is certainly a Byzantine follis, the two figures on the from could be a number of combinations of rulers, the reverse appears to be way off-centered (not uncommon), the large M is the denomination mark (follis) but it also appears to possibly be overstruck on a predecessor's coin. Not sure. But certainly Byzantine.
Honest question (I don’t know much on this topic!): why is some amount of patina desirable and increases the value of the coin? Presumably all coins in their new condition wouldn’t have had any, so I’m curious to know!
@@poephila It is because the patina has displaced the originl surface, the detail is usually preserved in the patina. Take the patina off and you remove some or all of the design on the coin and are left with a rough surface, or a lunar-like pitted slug. It is sometimes not the case, occasionally you get a decent coin when you remove the patina, but it is garish and gaudy as bare metal, so most who do remove the patina darken the coin with a false patina, which should always be disclosed if you sell the coin. These bronzes were usually silver washed and appeared silver in color, not bronze, so its impossible to re-silver them, so we generally preserve the patina. There is a great beauty in a nice, smooth, glossy, emerald green patina.
@scotmhead That is so interesting! Thank you so much for the explanation. You did mention the loss of details in your first comment but I understand better now. I also had no idea about silver washing, it's fascinating. I know a little bit more today!
I just came across your channel last week and I have been home all week sick so I have gone all the way back to the beginning. I am up to five years. I love your finds and how your whole family pitched in.
What a fascinating project! Thanks for pointing out that you only did this because the coins had no value otherwise. You know to never, ever clean a coin that's worth something.
rest in piece to any patina, plus that metal brush probably did a great job of tearing up some nice coins, its a shame when people who aren't know ledged in a hobby go and tear up pieces that someone with better knowledge could have done a really good job with
15:00 I noticed you occasionally turning this coin to the reverse and then rolling it (to see which way is right side up). If it's a coin, the reverse would flip top over bottom to remain properly viewable. If it's a token, turn it side to side for the coin to remain properly viewable.
The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true! Right? But wait! There's been a change! The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon! The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true!
When cleaning ancient coins you should try and leave as much of the green/black patina as possible. Scraping away until you get to the underlying copper greatly reduces the value of the coin.
Hello Everyone, I watch a mudlarking group that might have a idea what coin that is, Si-Finds And Nicola White are a group of people who collect from the River Thames and several other places. They might have a clue. Chill Bill, Nugget Noggin are also enthusiastic about coins. British Museum of Artifacts, (is a good guess on the title there), might have a clue too. Very historically accurate attempt by the whole group. Really enjoyed the video. And I will be glad to watch again.
About 35 years ago at Birks Jewelers store, they brought in sunken treaure from an old ship. You could view these gold coins or buy one, which was very expensive back then
Sounds like about the right time frame for when the treasures from the shipwreck “Atocha” were on display. I saw a similar display at a jewelry store in Boise. Incredible Spanish treasure. Gold, silver, coins, emeralds. Amazing things that were on the Atocha, sunk in a storm in the Caribbean in 1622 and found after years of searching by the Fisher family.
The coins are awesome.......imagine Roman history coming alive to tell stories thanks to Alex! Alex, mudlarkers in England use a solution with electric wire and they come out almost totally clean. Just a thought.
It looked like one of the coins was clipped - this was done at one time when coins were actually made of precious metals and people took clippings This was stopped as the coins were potentially getting devalued and the use of base metals introduced
Shaving coins was common up until the late middle ages, which is why weight was a more common way to measure the worth of coinage. As the Roman Empire began to suffer from inflation, commodity currency became fiat currency, which lead to the devaluation of the metal content in the money. Clipping was used to check the metal content inside a coin, and also to round out a transaction, which is why smaller coins would be clipped. Going back to shaving of coins for their metal content, people who did this illegal practice in the late middle ages were known as chiselers, which is where we get the word chiseler for a penny-pinching miser.
Years ago I bought one of these lots. So many of the coins were broken or very tiny. I think your coins are nicer. I didn't know about the cleaning solution.
It’s the age-old argument between leaving the age patina on the coin or removing the dirt and polishing it up. You have many numismatists (coin experts?) leaving comments. They are the experts. Interesting vid.
If you soak the coins overnight in Coca-Cola that works a treat too. That's how my Dad put me off that drink in the late 60's. He put an old British penny in a cup with Coca-Cola and the old brown penny was silver in the morning.
You're missing the whole point. This solution DOES NOT eat the metal of the coins. It's a deoxidiser essentialy. Coca Cola will indeed work but it's acidic and eats the coins as well, which means you're degfeating the purpose. Not only will you loosen and remove the crud on the durface but you're actually eating the surface and detail too. That's not recommended at all.
@@manolisgledsodakis873 Yes, therein lies the rub. My understanding is that cleaning coins using this method is NOT a good plan.But if they're worthless already...?
@@manolisgledsodakis873 Still think you're missing the point. If you are TRULY doign this with knowledge they are all CERTAINLY junk, then it's good to experiment. But the purpose here is to do it without hurting them incase there is something of use. So in those circumstances you don't want to use acids like that.
You actually ruined most of these coins by over cleaning them, you would have had some pretty nice pieces but you stripped all the Patina off of them. You do not want the coin to look like bright shiny copper, that means that all of the protective Patina layer has been stripped off of the surface of the coin and exposed the very sensitive copper core of the coin which is very susceptible to corrosion and bronze diseases that result from the exposed copper surface metal interacting with environmental factors. The Patina is a darkened protective layer over the surface of a copper or brass coin that forms thru oxidization of the metal interacting with the chemicals in the soil and surrounding climate and takes many years to properly form, so once the Patina is stripped off the surface of the coin it is pretty much impossible to restore it. Not only does stripping the Patina ruin the integrity of the metal of the coin by making it extremely vulnerable to many factors that can completely ruin and corrode the coin, but it also destroys pretty much all of the market value of the coin by making it much less appealing to collectors and numismatists because virtually all collectors prize a nice Patina on a coin and is one of the first things the look for, especially with a bronze coin. Aesthetically speaking the Patina accentuates the eye appeal of a coin and also brings out the details and gives the coin a more antique and authentic look. When you take the Patina off of a coin it also takes much of the details away as well as making the coin much less appealing on the eye. This is why you should never use harsh chemicals or acidic solutions to clean ancient coins. And if the coins are at all valuable then the job of cleaning should be definitely left to experienced experts, but when it comes to very common and affordable late Roman bronzes like these, it is not such a big deal to clean them, but the best method for cleaning is, to soak the coins in a bowl of distilled water for a few days to loosen the deposits, and then carefully and patiently remove the loosened dirt and deposits on the surface with a wooden toothpick and then after use a thin needle or thin diamond tipped pen to more thoroughly go around the details and devices of the coin, while being very gentle and careful not to scratch too deep into the surface so that you are only removing dirt and not the actually Patina of the coin. And then afterwards put on a safe wax to help seal and preserve the surface of the coin, a good wax that I would recommend is called, Renaissance wax
By accident I discovered a nice cleaner/polish for copper and silver, Mrs Meyers Clean Day Cream Cleaner with a soft toothbrush. It's a baking soda formula, works great on my copper and silver jewelry and pennies to remove light patina/tarnish and restore shine. I haven't tried it on really heavy copper patina but it worked well on a piece of blackened silver.
This was absolutely amazing. I watched it when you found them but I don't know but I finished it because I live in a nursing sometime and I had to stop because they need me to do something.😊
It is probably Theodosious and Justina. He was the last Byzantine Emperor to rule over a sort of unified Empire. His wife Justina was a co-ruler who helped keep him in power during the nucca riots.
Real interesting to watch. I know cleaning old coins is usually a huge no no. But like these being just not identifiable junk I'm sure you cannot go backwards. For people like me who aren't as worried about investment value and just fascinated in holding something close to 2000 years old is very cool. If you are actually to get your money back would be super interested. To hold a coin that could have been in circulation while Jesus walked to earth would be super interesting to me. The opportunity to see something that he could have seen. Not the exact coin but just the image. Really cool.
Cleaning is almost always necessary for ancient coins, except for gold coins they will all have need for conserving. Especially bronze coins, the goal there is to gently remove the dirt and mineralization slowly over time (sometimes days, sometimes it takes months or years) to reveal the coin with its patina intact. Its an enjoyable hobby but the coins available to conserve these days are typically not very interesting coins, just late Roman bronzes of which there are millions upon millions.
You might want to get one of those cell phone microscopes that you can attach over your phone camera. You can get some pretty good pictures using that. Plus it's fun to mess around with. ☺️
Not to much heat though🤷🏼♂️ Could be a funny experiment finding the balance… If the metal does not getting a blueing… Cooper reacts very fast on heat, and that blueing Can be hard to remove without hard polish🤷🏼♂️ Like his result though coin people might go🤯VANDALISM🤣 Most important is to rinse of with water to stop the process after that chem removal
That was SO interesting to see!! I can never get enough of ancient history. I mean, a coin in the era that Jesus was walking around? That's such a special time to have an actual, real artefact from! I can't help but imagine you with the loup to the eye to see what's on the coins. My grandfather was a gold and silver smith, and he used to have this loup he could clamp with his eyebrow and cheek, he sort of just "popped it on his eye", to inspect whatever he was working on. A very happy memory. I miss my grandpa. If it were my choice, I'd want to see every single one of those coins close up in all angles, and if that video would be three hours long, I'd be still watching intently. All this, just to say, that was awesome to see, thank you! 🥰
On the junky ones there is no real harm in using a 9v or 12v wallwart / phone charger to perform electrolytic cleaning on them. I used to do it often. Just put the negative lead alligator clipped on the coin and the positive lead on a sacrificial metal object like old junk spoon or maybe a carbon rod if you have one. Leave them sitting in a cup of salt water, perhaps one tablespoon salt per cup. The coin will fizz with bubbles like alka seltzer and after ten minutes the crud just falls right off. Use more salt if you don't see fizzing start. Don't breath the vapors and wear gloves because of hydrogen gas and chromium being released. Pull the coin out every ten minutes and scrub with a plastic brush on a piece of wood in the sink. It will make a mess. Repeat the fizzy process a few times per coin to see what you have. After that I would throw them in a vibratory tumbler with (dry) black walnut shell grit for a few days. It really scrubs them and can create a more natural looking surface / glossy patina. Walnut shell grit is sold for cleaning brass shells for people who do reloading of ammo. Don't use the electrolytic procedure on silver plated coins because it will remove whatever remains of the silver.
You know your product better than I do, but I am surprised that you never replaced the old murky stuff with a new bath. Also, if you have the patience for it, you might want to try gently bouncing a medium to soft straight bristle brush on the coins while they are in the bath.
Are the 2 figures a Saints coin? Why back when I was young I seen a Saint coin that had 2 figures. I have no idea who they were but they were definitely part of the Roman Catholic Church. I almost swear your coin looks similar. Anyway what a great video.
You did very well young man. Perhaps using toothpicks for cleaning would be process you develop, for the restoration of the coins. Nevertheless, they are your coins now. It was a great find. Well done!
It just amazes me to imagine who once held those coins in their hands. Just a person. Maybe even a Dad. But would you think they could have thought when holding it, who one day, would hold it again? I hope you get some info on these Alex. Just really fascinating. ✌🏻🤍
How fascinating Alex! When I was a kid on west coast of Vancouver Island we dug a huge hole in our carport. Digging our way to China no doubt? We found a hoard of what we called very strange pennies. Turned out to be Spanish coins dated 1760's The Spaniards had come up the west coast. Surprising how far up from the Alberni canal that the hoard was. This Piqued a lifelong interest in antiquities for me.
That is so cool!
What an amazing find!
Thank you for sharing. 😊
The straight of Juan de Fuca is called that for a reason...
I feel sad that you used chemicals on those Roman coins. Distilled water only, I have cleaned hundreds of roman coins, Each one can take up to 4 to 6 hours if you have the patience, Using chemicals causes pitting on the coin and it does not look good, Do it properly & you will be rewarded Love your work.🙂
14:10 this is a Justin II and sophia coin and its from the Byzantine empire between 565 to 578 A.D
I dunno. Doesn’t look it. Couple hundred years after the others too.
I agree @eddieboulos6791 , and if you search the coin talk website, there is a whole page full of people submitting their variations and more information around it.
12 years.. such a short period of history and there it is, a real coin from way back then. I wonder how many coins from us will ever be found.. I mean, we mostly pay digitally now. Cash is getting more rare by the day. Future archeologists might assume we reverted to "no money just trade" or something. Would WE assign our ancestors computer skills and digital money?
@SwirlingSoul I suppose that up to certain decades, pennies will be found everywhere. In middens, dumps, churches, the mysterious horizontal tunnels dotted near historical sites, etc. Of course, in a drought stricken future, future humans have no idea what wishing wells are. 😅😂🤣
that can't be justin ii, looks to me like an isaurian or later, definitely not before. the art style is very similar to that of leo iii/constantine v-.
hint: when cleaning never us metal on metal, toothpicks work quite well and are a lot kinder to the coin
Oh no you have ruined them 😮🙈
The unknown coin is probably an early Byzantine coin - I don't know which one it is. The M, means it's 40 nummi, according to the Greek numbering system. These are also known as follis. The follis was reintroduced as a large bronze coin (40 nummi) in 498, with the coinage reform of Anastasius, which included a series of bronze denominations with their values marked in Greek numerals.
Edit: Based on the crosses above their heads, my guess is the two figures are Heraclius and Heraclius Constantine, from 610-641. It's similar to a follis from Nikomedia.
Constantine was my guess given the crosses...
I asked my cousin whom collects ancient coins, before I read your comment. He seems to have the same answer. I'm sure Alex will appreciate this, and run with it.
This is one of my areas of expertise, been cleaning ancients for 20 years and the golden age is gone. Now uncleaned coins are picked over so badly you really do get mostly junk unless you know where a few good sources are. Reall the goal is to preserve the coin with its green/brown/black smooth patina, because the patina has displaced the surface detail in most cases. Your solution stripped the patina leaving not many good coins. The one at 6:58 looks a bit better because it has silver content. Its an Antoninianus of emperor Aurelian. The coin at 8:10 looks like Valens (can't read the legend completely) and is a common late Roman empire type. Stripped of patina its not much more than a curiousity but its got nice detail for the type. 12:28 is a campgate of Constantine I and you can see the mint mark, it was struck at Siscia. Your enigma coins is certainly a Byzantine follis, the two figures on the from could be a number of combinations of rulers, the reverse appears to be way off-centered (not uncommon), the large M is the denomination mark (follis) but it also appears to possibly be overstruck on a predecessor's coin. Not sure. But certainly Byzantine.
I'm glad you said this, I saw this video and was cringing when I started to see raw copper.
Honest question (I don’t know much on this topic!): why is some amount of patina desirable and increases the value of the coin? Presumably all coins in their new condition wouldn’t have had any, so I’m curious to know!
@@poephila It is because the patina has displaced the originl surface, the detail is usually preserved in the patina. Take the patina off and you remove some or all of the design on the coin and are left with a rough surface, or a lunar-like pitted slug. It is sometimes not the case, occasionally you get a decent coin when you remove the patina, but it is garish and gaudy as bare metal, so most who do remove the patina darken the coin with a false patina, which should always be disclosed if you sell the coin. These bronzes were usually silver washed and appeared silver in color, not bronze, so its impossible to re-silver them, so we generally preserve the patina. There is a great beauty in a nice, smooth, glossy, emerald green patina.
@scotmhead That is so interesting! Thank you so much for the explanation. You did mention the loss of details in your first comment but I understand better now. I also had no idea about silver washing, it's fascinating. I know a little bit more today!
What solution do you use to preserve old coins? @@scotmhead
Don't use metal scrapers!!
I just came across your channel last week and I have been home all week sick so I have gone all the way back to the beginning. I am up to five years. I love your finds and how your whole family pitched in.
I like these types of episodes, seeing these coins is very interesting!
How cool!!please do another video to update us with the coin info! Very interesting and cool! Maybe it was from the templar age
No matter what I am watching your channel comes on I watch
What a fascinating project! Thanks for pointing out that you only did this because the coins had no value otherwise. You know to never, ever clean a coin that's worth something.
What a great episode! I've followed you for a few years now, and you're still full of surprises.
Wow. That was interesting. Can’t wait to hear the history.
rest in piece to any patina, plus that metal brush probably did a great job of tearing up some nice coins, its a shame when people who aren't know ledged in a hobby go and tear up pieces that someone with better knowledge could have done a really good job with
Every coin collector ever will tell you to never clean coins because it ruins them
Very interesting Alex. One time I got a Jerusalem coin in Jesus time and I gave to my sister . Love old coins❤😊
Use a toothpick for scraping
Love old coins so amazing
Ouch! You dont depatinate ancient coins like this! 😭
15:00 I noticed you occasionally turning this coin to the reverse and then rolling it (to see which way is right side up). If it's a coin, the reverse would flip top over bottom to remain properly viewable. If it's a token, turn it side to side for the coin to remain properly viewable.
maybe on US coins but not all nations past or present do it the same way as the us. in fact current AUSTRALIAN coins need to be rotated left to right.
@@spud4242 Correction accepted. Thank you.
The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true! Right?
But wait! There's been a change!
The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon! The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true!
What a fun treasure hunt!
When cleaning ancient coins you should try and leave as much of the green/black patina as possible. Scraping away until you get to the underlying copper greatly reduces the value of the coin.
I love that you work to find new and interesting content to show us. I loved this.
Hello Everyone, I watch a mudlarking group that might have a idea what coin that is, Si-Finds And Nicola White are a group of people who collect from the River Thames and several other places. They might have a clue. Chill Bill, Nugget Noggin are also enthusiastic about coins. British Museum of Artifacts, (is a good guess on the title there), might have a clue too. Very historically accurate attempt by the whole group. Really enjoyed the video. And I will be glad to watch again.
love watching Nicola White and Si-finds!
Thanks Alex!
I wonder if you used an ultrasonic cleaner with your solution
It would work well with cleaning all the jewelry that you pick up. I have one for cleaning carburetors on motorcycles.
Excellent history knowledge!
Ruined so many coins. There is a way to slowly clean these types of coins. Alex showed how not to. Very sad to see.
About 35 years ago at Birks Jewelers store, they brought in sunken treaure from an old ship. You could view these gold coins or buy one, which was very expensive back then
Fascinating!
Sounds like about the right time frame for when the treasures from the shipwreck “Atocha” were on display. I saw a similar display at a jewelry store in Boise. Incredible Spanish treasure. Gold, silver, coins, emeralds. Amazing things that were on the Atocha, sunk in a storm in the Caribbean in 1622 and found after years of searching by the Fisher family.
The coins are awesome.......imagine Roman history coming alive to tell stories thanks to Alex! Alex, mudlarkers in England use a solution with electric wire and they come out almost totally clean. Just a thought.
Electrolysis… fun science project!
It's like traveling back in time
These look mostly as metal detector finds, and by just looking at them in their rougher shape, they are late Roman and early Byzantine coins.
Cool coins Alex!! Nice bit of history there.
Alexander,
That looked like fun, tedious but fun:)
Cheers,
Rik Spector
It looked like one of the coins was clipped - this was done at one time when coins were actually made of precious metals and people took clippings This was stopped as the coins were potentially getting devalued and the use of base metals introduced
Shaving coins was common up until the late middle ages, which is why weight was a more common way to measure the worth of coinage. As the Roman Empire began to suffer from inflation, commodity currency became fiat currency, which lead to the devaluation of the metal content in the money.
Clipping was used to check the metal content inside a coin, and also to round out a transaction, which is why smaller coins would be clipped.
Going back to shaving of coins for their metal content, people who did this illegal practice in the late middle ages were known as chiselers, which is where we get the word chiseler for a penny-pinching miser.
Very Interesting!
The portcullis you showed on some of the coins was still on British three penny bits until they went out of mint in the 1960s!
Fun haul to check one by one’s.. left over can be for art, craft, display… to be reuse in a nice way! Do not discard
I have a bunch of ancient Roman coins too, so I'm anxious to see what happens!!!
I too love holding something someone in the past held. Excellent video ❤
By the way Si-Finds had a video he used a Silicone nib pen to remove more residue with. Fun one to watch. You might like it too.
Fascinating! I’m a history geek.😊
This is so interesting for me
The coins look in better shape than some currently in circulation.
Years ago I bought one of these lots. So many of the coins were broken or very tiny. I think your coins are nicer. I didn't know about the cleaning solution.
Interesting post. Thanks for including us
It’s the age-old argument between leaving the age patina on the coin or removing the dirt and polishing it up. You have many numismatists (coin experts?) leaving comments. They are the experts. Interesting vid.
Fun to Watch the process!
And how Nice the Crud preserved Them💯
Did you rinse of in water to stop the process??😁
That was actually a really nice Emperor Aurelian Antoninianus coin
Just started watching, if it doesn’t work I bet you know an artist who could use them!
If you soak the coins overnight in Coca-Cola that works a treat too. That's how my Dad put me off that drink in the late 60's. He put an old British penny in a cup with Coca-Cola and the old brown penny was silver in the morning.
Do not do this. The solution he used was non-acidic. Coca Cola is acidic. It will do the job yes, but it is also more destructive.
You're missing the whole point. This solution DOES NOT eat the metal of the coins. It's a deoxidiser essentialy. Coca Cola will indeed work but it's acidic and eats the coins as well, which means you're degfeating the purpose. Not only will you loosen and remove the crud on the durface but you're actually eating the surface and detail too.
That's not recommended at all.
@@crunchyfrog555 Except if the coin is otherwise junk?
@@manolisgledsodakis873 Yes, therein lies the rub. My understanding is that cleaning coins using this method is NOT a good plan.But if they're worthless already...?
@@manolisgledsodakis873 Still think you're missing the point. If you are TRULY doign this with knowledge they are all CERTAINLY junk, then it's good to experiment. But the purpose here is to do it without hurting them incase there is something of use. So in those circumstances you don't want to use acids like that.
You actually ruined most of these coins by over cleaning them, you would have had some pretty nice pieces but you stripped all the Patina off of them. You do not want the coin to look like bright shiny copper, that means that all of the protective Patina layer has been stripped off of the surface of the coin and exposed the very sensitive copper core of the coin which is very susceptible to corrosion and bronze diseases that result from the exposed copper surface metal interacting with environmental factors. The Patina is a darkened protective layer over the surface of a copper or brass coin that forms thru oxidization of the metal interacting with the chemicals in the soil and surrounding climate and takes many years to properly form, so once the Patina is stripped off the surface of the coin it is pretty much impossible to restore it. Not only does stripping the Patina ruin the integrity of the metal of the coin by making it extremely vulnerable to many factors that can completely ruin and corrode the coin, but it also destroys pretty much all of the market value of the coin by making it much less appealing to collectors and numismatists because virtually all collectors prize a nice Patina on a coin and is one of the first things the look for, especially with a bronze coin. Aesthetically speaking the Patina accentuates the eye appeal of a coin and also brings out the details and gives the coin a more antique and authentic look. When you take the Patina off of a coin it also takes much of the details away as well as making the coin much less appealing on the eye. This is why you should never use harsh chemicals or acidic solutions to clean ancient coins. And if the coins are at all valuable then the job of cleaning should be definitely left to experienced experts, but when it comes to very common and affordable late Roman bronzes like these, it is not such a big deal to clean them, but the best method for cleaning is, to soak the coins in a bowl of distilled water for a few days to loosen the deposits, and then carefully and patiently remove the loosened dirt and deposits on the surface with a wooden toothpick and then after use a thin needle or thin diamond tipped pen to more thoroughly go around the details and devices of the coin, while being very gentle and careful not to scratch too deep into the surface so that you are only removing dirt and not the actually Patina of the coin. And then afterwards put on a safe wax to help seal and preserve the surface of the coin, a good wax that I would recommend is called, Renaissance wax
By accident I discovered a nice cleaner/polish for copper and silver, Mrs Meyers Clean Day Cream Cleaner with a soft toothbrush. It's a baking soda formula, works great on my copper and silver jewelry and pennies to remove light patina/tarnish and restore shine. I haven't tried it on really heavy copper patina but it worked well on a piece of blackened silver.
excellent advice!!!
Amazing video...i know nothing about coinsbut throughly enjoyed and the time period is amazing ....🥰🥰
This was absolutely amazing. I watched it when you found them but I don't know but I finished it because I live in a nursing sometime and I had to stop because they need me to do something.😊
Those coins are gorgeous!!!!
It is probably Theodosious and Justina. He was the last Byzantine Emperor to rule over a sort of unified Empire. His wife Justina was a co-ruler who helped keep him in power during the nucca riots.
BTW this is Alex and Amanda from Leavenworth.
Very interesting, I love this kind of history!
Great episode.
Real interesting to watch. I know cleaning old coins is usually a huge no no. But like these being just not identifiable junk I'm sure you cannot go backwards. For people like me who aren't as worried about investment value and just fascinated in holding something close to 2000 years old is very cool. If you are actually to get your money back would be super interested. To hold a coin that could have been in circulation while Jesus walked to earth would be super interesting to me. The opportunity to see something that he could have seen. Not the exact coin but just the image. Really cool.
Cleaning is almost always necessary for ancient coins, except for gold coins they will all have need for conserving. Especially bronze coins, the goal there is to gently remove the dirt and mineralization slowly over time (sometimes days, sometimes it takes months or years) to reveal the coin with its patina intact. Its an enjoyable hobby but the coins available to conserve these days are typically not very interesting coins, just late Roman bronzes of which there are millions upon millions.
You might want to get one of those cell phone microscopes that you can attach over your phone camera. You can get some pretty good pictures using that. Plus it's fun to mess around with. ☺️
You need a magnifying glass to see the coins
Interesting, leaves a lot of questions.
This was fascinating!
Find them quite often in the uk metal detecting.
This is very interesting
I wonder if you could get some of the persistent crusting off by heating the coins and dropping them in cold water. Thermal shock the crap off :D
Not a bad idea na dprobably worth experimenting with. I might give it a go myself. Of course you'd have to be careful, but it could indeed help.
Not to much heat though🤷🏼♂️
Could be a funny experiment finding the balance… If the metal does not getting a blueing… Cooper reacts very fast on heat, and that blueing Can be hard to remove without hard polish🤷🏼♂️
Like his result though coin people might go🤯VANDALISM🤣
Most important is to rinse of with water to stop the process after that chem removal
Interesting project but please use a toothbrush or bamboo skewers instead of metal for picking at the coins.
(7:00) thats a fine coin!
Hundreds of millions of people died, while those pieces of struck metal stayed under the ground.
Alex a sonic watch parts cleaning bath would have cleaned those coins and less risk if damage to the surface
That was SO interesting to see!! I can never get enough of ancient history. I mean, a coin in the era that Jesus was walking around? That's such a special time to have an actual, real artefact from!
I can't help but imagine you with the loup to the eye to see what's on the coins. My grandfather was a gold and silver smith, and he used to have this loup he could clamp with his eyebrow and cheek, he sort of just "popped it on his eye", to inspect whatever he was working on. A very happy memory. I miss my grandpa.
If it were my choice, I'd want to see every single one of those coins close up in all angles, and if that video would be three hours long, I'd be still watching intently. All this, just to say, that was awesome to see, thank you! 🥰
On the junky ones there is no real harm in using a 9v or 12v wallwart / phone charger to perform electrolytic cleaning on them. I used to do it often. Just put the negative lead alligator clipped on the coin and the positive lead on a sacrificial metal object like old junk spoon or maybe a carbon rod if you have one. Leave them sitting in a cup of salt water, perhaps one tablespoon salt per cup. The coin will fizz with bubbles like alka seltzer and after ten minutes the crud just falls right off. Use more salt if you don't see fizzing start. Don't breath the vapors and wear gloves because of hydrogen gas and chromium being released. Pull the coin out every ten minutes and scrub with a plastic brush on a piece of wood in the sink. It will make a mess. Repeat the fizzy process a few times per coin to see what you have. After that I would throw them in a vibratory tumbler with (dry) black walnut shell grit for a few days. It really scrubs them and can create a more natural looking surface / glossy patina. Walnut shell grit is sold for cleaning brass shells for people who do reloading of ammo. Don't use the electrolytic procedure on silver plated coins because it will remove whatever remains of the silver.
the unknown coin looks byzantinic
OMG! You are going to clean the coins?! I hope it’s with nothing more than a brush and some water.
The unidentified coin looks very similar to a gold coin with Leo IV The Khazar and Constantine VI from 778 AD I found on Thomas Numismatics.
You know your product better than I do, but I am surprised that you never replaced the old murky stuff with a new bath. Also, if you have the patience for it, you might want to try gently bouncing a medium to soft straight bristle brush on the coins while they are in the bath.
I would love to have one of the older coins pre Christian era. It would make a great gift for a history scholar
Those are awesome, thank you for sharing ❤
16:00 I see you have the Pyrex Starburst on display.🇨🇦
How about putting the rough one in a fresh batch of the rust remover and they may be better
That cleaning stuff was fantastic
8:25 looks like constantin
I have a couple roman coins I'd like to clean up. I just have no idea where to start.
So fascinating to me- such history 😮
Are the 2 figures a Saints coin? Why back when I was young I seen a Saint coin that had 2 figures. I have no idea who they were but they were definitely part of the Roman Catholic Church. I almost swear your coin looks similar. Anyway what a great video.
Interesting, thanks for sharing.
Totally enjoyable video!
You did very well young man. Perhaps using toothpicks for cleaning would be process you develop, for the restoration of the coins. Nevertheless, they are your coins now. It was a great find. Well done!
COOL!!! Do take care. Fl., USA
🙋♀️❤️. Be careful! Coins are addicting! ❤️❤️❤️
14:10 Possibly St. Constantine and St. Helen.
Hey Alex would electrolysis work? You can make a small tank pretty easy with an old battery charger.
That, coin with the cross, could be two disciples
Put it back in CLEAN solution for another few hours, see if it helps more! Also you could use hydrogen peroxide too!
The Alex version of the TikTok trend: 'This is my Roman Empire'
It just amazes me to imagine who once held those coins in their hands. Just a person. Maybe even a Dad. But would you think they could have thought when holding it, who one day, would hold it again? I hope you get some info on these Alex. Just really fascinating. ✌🏻🤍
The Vatican produced their own coins. The one with the cross could be one of those.