dwayne sueno
Bronze Member
best george II i've dug (update: "cleaned" pics)
went to a new site today along the hudson. a friend of mine is doing some big machine work on his property, and called me up so i could come over and search the excavations.
the excavations themselves weren't so hot, but i managed a couple of coppers in the undisturbed spots.
got the 1852 LC first, along an old, forgotten road grade going down to an old, forgotten landing site, but was plagued with beer cans at this site, so moved up toward the new diggings, and renewed my efforts. there was something of a talus slope of big gravel under a spine of "living" rock, and there was enough old broken crocks and oyster shells to pique my interest, so i slowed down, dug all the rotting tin cans and whatnots, and presently pulled out this, my best dug george the second halfpenny ever. 1737. coppers do not look like this in new york, but this one must've been preserved by the rocks it was nested in. it's only been "tongue-cleaned" in the field, but it's already starting to crumble. will probably give it a stabilizing treatment, and clean it no further. the 1852, on the other hand, should do nicely in a peroxide bath with a little petroleum anointment before bedtime...
UPDATE: posted cleaned pics below the uncleaned pics. dropped the 1852 into a hot peroxide bath, then worked it with a toothpick and q-tips, rinsed it, and coated it in vaseline. turned out pretty good.
the george II was a little trickier, as the patina was chipping off a bit around the rims. i started out dabbing it with cold peroxide and q-tips, then got my confidence up and heated the peroxide up and dabbed the coin with q-tips dipped in that until there was almost no dirt coming off on the q-tips. then a quick rinse, and the vaseline. i was mostly just trying to keep it from drying out and flaking, so not that dramatic a difference in the before-and afters.
enjoy.
dwayne
went to a new site today along the hudson. a friend of mine is doing some big machine work on his property, and called me up so i could come over and search the excavations.
the excavations themselves weren't so hot, but i managed a couple of coppers in the undisturbed spots.
got the 1852 LC first, along an old, forgotten road grade going down to an old, forgotten landing site, but was plagued with beer cans at this site, so moved up toward the new diggings, and renewed my efforts. there was something of a talus slope of big gravel under a spine of "living" rock, and there was enough old broken crocks and oyster shells to pique my interest, so i slowed down, dug all the rotting tin cans and whatnots, and presently pulled out this, my best dug george the second halfpenny ever. 1737. coppers do not look like this in new york, but this one must've been preserved by the rocks it was nested in. it's only been "tongue-cleaned" in the field, but it's already starting to crumble. will probably give it a stabilizing treatment, and clean it no further. the 1852, on the other hand, should do nicely in a peroxide bath with a little petroleum anointment before bedtime...
UPDATE: posted cleaned pics below the uncleaned pics. dropped the 1852 into a hot peroxide bath, then worked it with a toothpick and q-tips, rinsed it, and coated it in vaseline. turned out pretty good.
the george II was a little trickier, as the patina was chipping off a bit around the rims. i started out dabbing it with cold peroxide and q-tips, then got my confidence up and heated the peroxide up and dabbed the coin with q-tips dipped in that until there was almost no dirt coming off on the q-tips. then a quick rinse, and the vaseline. i was mostly just trying to keep it from drying out and flaking, so not that dramatic a difference in the before-and afters.
enjoy.
dwayne
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That King George is one of the best I have seen. 
New York is loaded with that kind of Colonial history.
Hogge
