Cleaning brass/bronze Cossack ring

magua

Full Member
Sep 18, 2022
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Iā€™m looking for some recommendations on what would be the best way to clean this ring. Itā€™s probably bronze, brass mix. It is a metal detector find from my friend in western Ukraine, Lviv Oblast. He frequently finds Cossack rings, etc and he focuses on previous trade routes as well. Heā€™s got some great stuff! This just happened to be in my size and he sent it to me with another that I purchased from him. This is an oldie, so I want to make sure I donā€™t mess it up.

What would work best?
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Why not leave it as is. It can only be in its original condition one time. After you clean it will never be that ever again.
 

From the pictures of the ring it's hard to determine what the metal composition is actually.
Doesn't look the typical bronze/brass alloys that get the green look.
This on has a darker grey as a silver/pewter/tin based alloy would have.
I would establish alloy before the first attempt in cleaning.
@Tom_Restorer Does really amazing restorations and could probably have knowledge in this.
 

Why not leave it as is. It can only be in its original condition one time. After you clean it will never be that ever again.

The other ring in this pic was in identical condition and my friend restored it to look like it does in the picture. He did an incredible job.

I posted a before picture as well.
You can see the wonderful job he did. And he stated that itā€™s the same material as the uncleaned one that I have. Thatā€™s why I took it to be of a brass/bronze alloy mix.

When we communicate, there is a language barrier, and we do well, but when talking about what to clean it with, I was having difficulty understanding, and thatā€™s why I came to the group.

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Why not leave it as is. It can only be in its original condition one time. After you clean it will never be that ever again.

I hear ya. The thing is, I can get more of these from him because he has so many. He has a huge area to metal detect that was once a village site that is now fields and pastures (at present, the area has avoided the War-zone. Unfortunately, he was not as lucky. he served a short time before becoming injured.) not far away is an area that has sections that were trenches during the world war. it is filled with relics.

Iā€™m sure I can get another at any point to leave in original condition. I just wanted to take a stab at seeing how good of a job I could do. I posted pictures in this thread also of before and after of another ring that he did and it is amazing work. And I thought Iā€™d try.
 

I hear ya. The thing is, I can get more of these from him because he has so many. He has a huge area to metal detect that was once a village site that is now fields and pastures (at present, the area has avoided the War-zone. Unfortunately, he was not as lucky. he served a short time before becoming injured.) not far away is an area that has sections that were trenches during the world war. it is filled with relics.

Iā€™m sure I can get another at any point to leave in original condition. I just wanted to take a stab at seeing how good of a job I could do. I posted pictures in this thread also of before and after of another ring that he did and it is amazing work. And I thought Iā€™d try.
Well with that I guess it be nice to see it in as new condition again. I really wouldn't know how best to go about the best type of restoration. Maybe you could find some before and after examples online done correctly of jewelry made with the same metal.
 

Nice looking ring. Best of luck to you in the cleaning and restoration.
 

Iā€™d put it on and start wearing it. The patina will wear off in the high spots and it might turn out nice. I found a ā€˜45 quarter that was dark and started carrying it in my pocket. A couple of yrs later it is now bright and shines.
 

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