Firs

[Silver Tree Chaser]

Greetings - My first post!

I'm looking for some helpful advice on this 1786 New Jersey copper that I found back in May. It had been sitting in mineral oil for the past three months until last night when I closely examined the coin's surface. The obverse side with the horse head is in wonderful shape for being found in Southern New England; soil here is tough on copper coins. Plowed fields are brutal on copper coins, but I dug this Jersey Copper from a tavern site in the woods. The coins reverse has bonded with some dirt and likely has relatively mild corrosion. I only lightly brushed the coin's back side and some dirt came off with little or no loss of detail.

What should I do? Try cleaning it further or leave it alone? What do you think? Please reply - that way, if it comes out awful, I'll have others to blame along with me (just joking).

Seriously, I know that if I clean it further, I may loose some detail. If it goes really bad, I could loose some patina and surfacing. Use a oiled tooth pick, pencil eraser, tooth brush? I've read all about the warnings in regards to cleaning coins, and I'm somewhat skeptical. I'll take a well-done cleaned coins over an untreated ugly coin without eye appeal. Eye appeal is very important in a nice, old coin.

I want to make the right move on this find. It's a fairly valuable and rare variety of a 1786 New Jerser Coppper. Colonial and Early American Coins by Bowers list this coin as a Maris 17-J Variety with a rarity scale of URS-8 - estimated at 65 to 124 known specimens. He values this variety as follows: Fine - $1000, Very Fine - $3000, E.Fine - $5000. The attached scan for the coin's pricing is possibly to small-sorry!









Thanks for looking and any input that can be provided.

Good Hunting,

The Silver Tree Chaser

 

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[silversurfer1111]

wow nice fined . wish i could help but i got nothing

 

[nov2101]

If you go the Minwax route, make sure you buy ONLY Minwax paste finishing wax, it is the microcrystaline wax that you need. It is virtually the same stuff that is sold with a slightly different proportion of wax to carrier that is called Renaissance Wax (or "Ren wax"). Ren wax is purpose made for antiquities, like coins, wood, bone, artifacts, metal, etc. The Minwax product does indeed have a light dye in the carrier but in the film we apply to coins it is invisible, almost invisible even on white plaster.

I am currently doing a semi-controlled long term test of Ren Wax side by side with Minwax paste finishing wax on several surfaces with an unwaxed control area on each surface (on brass coin slugs, bronze slugs, silver coins (half dollars), wood, plaster of paris and un-glazed ceramic tile). This test will last two years, I just waxed the things last month.

There is some debate between us collectors over what seems so crude as using Minwax over Ren wax, since Ren wax has the marketing strategy aimed at museums and collectors. Since I waxed many an antiquity and fossil at the museum I worked for back in the 1990s with Minwax paste wax, I use it for my coins. But many here have questioned and brought up arguments as to why it may not be best (I am not convinced but interested in testing, and doing so with an open mind desire to satisfy my curiosity and to be teachable ). That is why I am doing the test.

To apply waxes, make sure your coin is dry, warm it in an oven or with a hair dryer or heat gun (careful, hot!). You ought to be able to hold the warmed coin, if you get it too hot that is not good.

With a cotton swab or fingers, rub a little wax into the coin, it should liquefy and spread evenly. A little does it, not too much, if it pools up or collects in detail, you have too much. Absorb any excess with a dry cotton swab before it cools and then set it aside to dry for several hours (overnight if possible).

Buff lightly if desired with a soft cotton cloth or very lightly with a felt buffing wheel in a dremel tool.

Waxing darkens porous patinas and earth (desert patinas - don't wax these) and gives the coin a sheen, sometimes making detail pop more. Waxing also seals a coin from the elements to a degree. It also seals in any moisture you did not get out, so many folks heat their coins for an hour or two on low heat in an oven and wax immediately when they come out. Waxing will not darken a hard, glossy or smooth patina but will sometimes make the color optically deeper and richer.

I Goggled coin wax, but I dont know what it does for appraisal Im sure it not good

 

[leslie(nova scotia)]

From the land of the Bluenose.....interesting find and thanks for posting!

 

[jerseyben]

Send a message to Don in SJ. Nice coin!