1st Large Cent, need help cleaning + engraved watch

[pointdlr]

A guy on my softball team has a nice piece of property in an area of small lots. He has 3 acres which is almost unheard of in the area of town. His house is 1900, and he told me it was an old apple orchard before that. I went on a lunch hunt today, and wasn't having much luck. I did find a 1952 Rosie, but almost every other good sounding signal turned out to be junk. Then I popped a silver art deco watch out of the ground. It has initials "CCJ" and the year '32. The guts are completely rotted out, but the case is in much condition than the pics show. There is absolutely zero tarnish to the point where I was thinking it might even be white gold. I then moved to the back and found a few pieces of clad. I recieved a quarter signal just below the surface and contemplated not even digging it. I decided that it would pay for the short commute from work to the house so I dug. I was completely shocked when a green disk made its appearance. I was sure it was a large cent right away. I only lightly cleaned the dirt off, b/c there are some thick green crusties covering the surface. I would like to at least get a date off it. Is the peroxide method the way to go? Olive oil? I'm hoping a Large Cent guy can help me out with it. Anyway, I was happy to find it. Pics are of the back of the large cent(you can see the "O" in One, some of the wreath and the beginning of "United States". I threw in a few of the watch.
Regards,
Jon Dickinson.

 

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[Evolution]

Hot peroxide is the way to go in my opinion when the coin does not appear to be too corroded. Yours looks kind of corroded so you might not want to go that route. Wait for some other suggestions. Great find by the way!!

 

[Detectingfreak]

very nice job on the crusty large cent! I say the peroxide method.

 

[Skrimpy]

Ask Don in SJ. He gets a lot of colonial coppers and does a good job cleaning them.

 

[collector01]

congratz on your first large cent, I found my first last month and it was in bad shape so I tried the peroxide treatment and it did a good job but I didnt leave it in there to long because it started to flake some of the coin off but it help alot. so then I gave it a nice bath and a good olive oil rub down and she seems to be doing okay.

 

[Mona Lisa]

Congratulations on your first...hopefully not your last...large cent.

Use peroxide....DON'T use olive oil on your coin. It will seep out of your coin for years to come.

 

[Nana40]

Congrats on that first! And I have no comment on cleaning it. :P Makes me nervous to even think about.

Great hunt! Nana

 

[West Jersey Detecting]

congratz on your first large cent, I found my first last month and it was in bad shape so I tried the peroxide treatment and it did a good job but I didnt leave it in there to long because it started to flake some of the coin off but it help alot. so then I gave it a nice bath and a good olive oil rub down and she seems to be doing okay.

Hydrogen Peroxide will NOT flake off any of the coin. If a coin is badly corroded, sometimes the only thing holding it together is the oxidzed material and/or dirt. When you clean it in peroxide it will remove the dirt that was showing and will appear to remove remaining detail on a corroded coin, which in this case would be nothing but dirt.

Peroxide is the only method I use. See Don's post "Cleaning Large Cents", here: http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,39135.0.html

 

[sonny60]

Found 2 LC's in April myself. Use peroxide. 1/4 inch peroxide in glass cup heated for 45 sec. Repeat a couple more times if necessary but no more. will lose detail. hope this helps

 

[allen]

wtg on that nice old coin...

 

[hogge]

I always use heated peroxide, and it NEVER hurts the coin. Used it on both Capped Bust LC's found last week. Works great.

 

[pointdlr]

Re: 1st Large Cent, need help cleaning + WATCH UPDATE

I took the watch over to my bro-in-laws jewelry shop this evening. He figured out how to open the back. It was engraved on the inside. Waltham Wadsworth made from 14K Gold Fill. I had a hunch that the watch was gold. I might restore it and give it to my father, who collects vintage watches.
Regards,
Jon Dickinson.

 

[West Jersey Detecting]

Found 2 LC's in April myself. Use peroxide. 1/4 inch peroxide in glass cup heated for 45 sec. Repeat a couple more times if necessary but no more. will lose detail. hope this helps

I have soaked LC's for days and even weeks. You will never lose detail, unless the detail is on the oxidized part of the coin. After a few years that will flake away anyway. You may as well soak it for as long as it takes.

 

[Colonial Zoyboy]

The peroxide method will turn the coppa black. In my opinion, it looks like hell after it comes out of the soak.

Kyle