Old coin can you tell what it is

[dduffy]

I was back out yesterday at this farm that i found a medallion. This version of the seal was used from approximately 1878-1914. The University was founded in 1870 and originally called "The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Ohio". The name was changed to "The Ohio State University" in 1878. So i felt there had to be old items at this site.
The 1st good thing I found was the item with Mary Garden on it . Pretty funny that someone went to The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Ohio so maybe her last name was Garden? 2nd good item i found was the Cincinnati Zoo thing. I went back to the spot where I found a 1934 Wheat penny(just wanted to find something with a date on it) I was pretty excited when this coin came out of the hole. I cleaned it off and could see the RTY and a couple of the stars. so i stopped and figured i would post it here so someone could tell me what it is and how to clean it.

 

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[Silver Searcher]

The reason I like Diet Coke is that on the hundred of things I have used it on, it has NEVER lifted the patina or gilt. I even simmer stuff in it.

Daryl

Well it looks as if it's started to do it to the one above Coke leave a redish hue, like on the one above

SS

 

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[BioProfessor]

None of mine ever did. Don't know what the surface was before the Diet coke. Or what might happen with regular coke.

Daryl

 

[dduffy]

Daryl, I did not give up soaking it in Deit Coke. this is what it looks like. Pretty sure it did not matter what I did the coin was pretty much gone. This was the 1st old coin i found other than Wheat penny's. I would have been happy just to see the date.

Duff

 

[BioProfessor]

You did as good of a job as possible. The fact that it is still green shows that the copper patina is still there. The stuff that came off the coin is not patina. It is a material that is composed of metal from the coin and chemicals in the soil. When it comes off, it breaks away from the bare metal below it and is most often pitted. All the detail was destroyed when this material was made. As far as I know, there is nothing that will remove this material and leave any of the original coin surface behind. That part of the surface has been chemically changed into the "crud" that looks like "rough rock" on the surface and it is really hard. If you use a cleaner to remove that stuff, it strips the entire coin down to bare metal and will most likely remove all the detail.

So the coin you started with had already lost the detail under the crud - like the date. That's just the way it goes with some coins in some soils. I like using Diet Coke because after all the soaking and even simmering it, the sound metal with patina stays that way. If the coin or button does not have the "chunky raised hard crud" it comes out clean and all patina intact. Maybe the next one you find won't have so much of the "bad" corrosion and there will be stuff still visible underneath

Looking at the coin. What do you think about how clean the non-corroded sound surface is? Still have the look of an old coin with patina? Do you think the Diet Coke damaged the surface of the coin that didn't have the corrosion?

I've cleaned and simmered a lot of buttons and coins and if the surface is sound, all that happens is the regular crud comes off. I put on a little olive oil or wax and they are good to go.

Daryl

 

[mts]

Is it just me or does the after picture for the diet coke have a lot less detail than the before picture? I think that you over did it with the diet coke. Now there are hardly any details at all.

The coin was obviously ruined before you started. But I'm not convinced that the diet coke didn't make it worse. You used to be able to make out a zero in the date. Now that is completely gone as is the lettering on the reverse side.

 

[BioProfessor]

It's not the diet coke. It's the stuff that flakes off. Soap and water and even Olive oil will flake it off. It takes the detail with it sometimes as the detail isn't part of the coin any more. It is just crud that "grew" so that you can still see something. Just the way copper is.

Daryl

 

[BioProfessor]

This rock hard raised crud is like bronze disease. It "eats" the metal, flakes off, and it's gone.

Daryl

 

[mts]

Diet coke is an acid. As such it takes off a thin layer all over the coin. It doesn't just work on the crud. It also goes to work on the stuff that you want to keep. That's what looks like happened in the before and after pics. In the before picture of the reverse you can read the words "united states of america". On the after picture the words are almost completely gone. The words weren't made out of "crud". They might have had crud on them but they were actual parts are the coin. The acid ate them right off of the coin. What I see in these pictures is that the diet coke ate a consistent layer off of the coin which took away alot of the detail. I've seen other threads where people were able to get amazing detail out of coins that looked just as bad as the original coin posted here so I'm not convinced that diet coke was the way to go in this case. It may work well for you in a lot of circumstances but I'd never resort to using acid on a coin if I was trying to preserve as much detail as possible.

That's my two cents and it's worth exactly what you paid for it!

 

[BioProfessor]

Diet coke is only slightly more acidic than olive oil. It does remove things but in the hundreds of things I've cleaned with it, I have found that it is not a strong enough acid to eat sound metal. Most times when I lose detail, it is crud showing detail that flakes off. You can see it but it is not copper. It is a very complicated chemical formed in the soil.

If the diet coke was that strong, the coin would not have the patina left on the sound copper.

Just my experience over the past year and my large cents worth.

Daryl

 

[dduffy]

I'm pretty sure the crud was all of the raised part that we were able to see. It was very hard and i'm not sure anything could have left the date. Dated side was probaly facing down . the only thing i can do is find another at the same site and try something differnt to know for sure. What are the chances of that happening? So thank you for helping and happy hunting

Duff

 

[BioProfessor]

Anything that removes the hard crud - soap and water, olive oil, fingernail, etc. - will remove everything down to the metal surface below. The crud has reacted chemically with the soil and is no longer coin or soil. That's why it is so hard. The only choice you really have is to not clean it at all and put something on it that will make things darker and stand out be it corrosion or coin. You may them see some detail as the chemical reaction sometimes takes place and just turns the copper into a chemical compound and some detail remains. Many times, it won't last and will flake off as the coin is exposed to the air for a long time. It just falls away. It just the way copper acts.

Daryl

 

[IronSpike]

I would call it 1840, cool find Diet Coke looks to be a good remedy

 

[BioProfessor]

Iron Spike, if you can tell him how to apply some wax to the coin, more detail may come up and it will look better. I think it will be a nice looking coin now that all the ugly crud is off. As they say, "It is what it is."

I agree with the date range and when the cleaning and finishing process is finished it will be a nice looking coin and be what I consider a good find.

Daryl

 

[DCMatt]

This was the 1st old coin i found other than Wheat penny's. I would have been happy just to see the date.

1830 is a good match on several areas. I'm sure one of the coin experts can confirm or refute my guess.

I really like the Cinncinnati Zoo match safe you dug!

DCMatt