Howdy All!

[mhonzell]

I currently live in Illinois. Not by choice, but because of work. I was in the Navy for 22 years working on submarines and have now moved about 35 times. I grew up in Texas and have traveled through 45 of the 50 states, 2 US territories, 12 foreign countries and about 25 islands in the Caribbean.

I ran a half-marathon last year (to lose some weight) and have never run again.

I started collecting coins in 1998 with the advent of State Quarters (of which I have a full, very circulated set.) I only keep one of any coin I collect. While I sell my duplicates, anything that doesn't sell on the first attempt, I hand out to kids or new collectors with the story behind the coins. They always walk away thinking they have a treasure! I used to keep lots of Proof sets, but grew tired of them and sold them all. I like copper coins because of the diversity in color. (Duplicates are the same year and variety.) Silver coins are just "shiny" and usually too little detail for me. I think copper-nickel make the best looking coins, but it's too hard for the mints, so you can only find old ones in this metal.

When coin speculation became prominent, I moved to uncleaned ancient Roman coins and a little bit of metal detecting. I still hand out duplicates. I've become somewhat proficient at cleaning these coins and have on occasion broken the cardinal rules of cleaning modern coins. I actually had a couple of them graded significantly higher than what I purchased them as. But, that's a dangerous hobby as it can just as easily ruin a coin. So, I don't clean any key dates. I know that may frustrate you, but as I've found, about 90% of all graded coins have been cleaned at some point in their life. NCS and museums learned the skill by some means, get over it. Tone and patina are great, dirt, plastic, carbon spots and body fluids are not.

Having read this far, I propose to offer a small token for your reading if you can guess where I am (city, country) in this picture.

[Paul]

Greece

[mhonzell]

Right area, wrong country.

Since this is a Coin Forum, I'll include a hint from the realm:

[Daniel]

Thanks for sharing your beginnings in coins, and I agree on the cleaning, some silver for various reasons like PVC, NGC calls it restoration but a ducks a duck. Anyone can learn to do what they do. However, I seen way too many botched clean jobs so I advise novices not to try it. If you must, get you a bunch of dirty Roosevelt Dime and have at it. You can't hurt their value much and it wont hurt you wallet much if you mess it up.

I am going to say you're in Spain in that image. I guess the architecture reminds me of Spanish origin, so you could be in Mexico or Saint Augustine Florida U.S.

[mhonzell]

Well, I've learned a lot about cleaning coins due to the ancient coins, but I would not advise anyone attempt a coin worth any numismatic value until they have practiced, practiced again, and then one more time. I've ruined more than one coin in my learning. Luckily none of any monetary value, but history is lost in the end.

Regarding the location:
Mexico and Florida are the wrong continent. Spain is the right continent, but the Hellenistic answer was closer. The coin provides a subtle clue, but requires some research. So, I'll tell you that the animal on the coin, a marten, was used to pay Roman taxes before the coin was issued. This coin's name literally means "tax", but so does the animal's name. (Two languages involved.)

[Paul]

Does the reverse have a 'GRIM REAPER' on it? :l

[PetesPockets55]

How about Istanbul,Turkey (No you're not a Turkey and "stop calling me Shirley"- Airplane-1977?)
Interesting coin and assignment.

[mhonzell]

Istanbul is a bit too far east, but there's a lot of influence from that culture here.
Maybe you'll recognize the city's water supply. An ancient spring with constantly running faucets on the side of the building. Picture taken while standing on the wall that surrounds the city.

[Daniel]

Alright, then I will guess Italy.

[PetesPockets55]

Is the coin a Banavac minted 1260-1380 A.D. in Croatia to pay those pesky Romans their taxes.
Lets see, your photo says "cruise 2009".
It is a fortification overlooking the ...Adriatic?
Could it be Korcula, birthplace of Marco Polo
Or could it be Hvar (perhaps Dubrovnik)
Thanks for the challenge and an opportunity to do a littler searching on the web.
Photo sure looks like you had great weather and beautiful views.

[mhonzell]

We have a winner!
Nice job.

Dubrovnik, Croatia
Coin is a Banovac and current coin is Kuna ("Crown").

It was a fantastic trip!
PM your address to receive a token for your research efforts.

[Daniel]

Congrats petespockets! I just didn't have the time to research, but glad you did!

[PetesPockets55]

My daughter always says I need to get a life. ( :
Onofrio's fountains in Dubrovnik it is then. Quite a history there. stayed up way too late reading. Thank you for sending us on the quest. You are currently in Ill.? My brother moved to Varna, Ill. when coming back from Taiwan in 1974 (Airforce) For some reason, Illinois doesn't come racing to mind when thinking of submarines. ( :

[PetesPockets55]

Daniel, What do you do with all your "spare" time? Thanks so much for all the time you invest in this site for everyone who visits. It is very helpful and is a great resource for all of us wanting to know more information but not sure how to get it.

[mhonzell]

Submarines are powered by nuclear power plants. Illinois has quite a few nuclear power plants providing electricity to its population.

In regards to the challenge... I was just trying to make my "introduction" interesting.

[PetesPockets55]

It was very interesting with the places you have visited and experiences with different coinage. I like your take on dealing with mucky coins. It is about removing foreign matter in a careful manner that doesn't detract from or damage the coin. I have taken a similar limited testing approach on already damaged common coins to see if it is possible to remove the common dirt and grime found on most circulated coins. Soaking in olive oil to loosen debris to simply rinsing with boiling water.

[mhonzell]

Careful with boiling water. It can discolor copper and the agitation will put marks on the coins.
Hot water is usually adequate.

[Daniel]

Daniel, What do you do with all your "spare" time? Thanks so much for all the time you invest in this site for everyone who visits. It is very helpful and is a great resource for all of us wanting to know more information but not sure how to get it.

I am thankful that this forum and website helpful and a good resource. I don't have much spare time but when I do it's fishing, metal detecting and spending time with my family. I love college football so I take time to watch games.

[mhonzell]

Ooh!! Thanks for the reminder... It's Sunday... football game today.

[Daniel]

:thumbsup: I watch a little NFL as well.

[PetesPockets55]

Woo hoo. Got my first ancient this week, from the reign of
Constantine the Great, 307 AD- 337 AD. Thank you mhonzell for
the prize. I will see if I can post a few pics.Was it one you found in
one of your travels? And thanks for the pointer about the boiling
water possibly damaging the coins. Is olive oil to soften the grime
and then a light rinse in Dawn- to remove residue ok? I know, "they "
say no cleaning at all, but to get the surface crud off?
Trying to add pics of the prize but misbehaving program.

[PetesPockets55]

The prize from mhonzell. Hope the pics do it justice. Thanks again! widegrin :yourock:

[mhonzell]

No, this is one I received looking like below from Bulgaria. (Not bad for 1700 years old!) Glad you like it!

Regarding olive oil, distilled water and soap...
None are good if they stay on the coin for extended periods of time. Soap is caustic, oil is almost neutral (very slight acid), and distilled water is safest. BUT, the question is how are you going to get it off (yes, even the water.) It is this part that always ends up with some type of rubbing, whether by hand, cloth, q-tip, etc. and this is where the scratches come into play.

Oil and water can be removed with acetone, but it is not recommended for any coin that has copper in it since a reaction does occur (on ocassion) with high copper content that tones copper purplish blue over time. If you use soap, then you have to "scrub". If you use water, then some metals, eg. bronze in Indian Heads, can result in Bronze disease when chlorine on the coin becomes "active".

Cleaning is unique to each coin. So, no one answer fits. Sorry.

[Daniel]

What do you think NCS, NGC's conservation service uses to restore coins? It all depends on the coin metal but also on what caused the coins environmental damage in the first place. I think the coin is fine as is, so why do anything?

[mhonzell]

Not sure who you are addressing, but Pete's question was regarding coins in general (prior post), not a specific coin. I'm sure I use a limited set of similar techniques as NCS, but I am also sure they have a much larger arsenal of techniques. As stated, every coin is unique. You have to understand the metal, the dirt, the existing damage, etc. No one rule works for all coins. That's why almost everyone will strongly state: DON"T CLEAN YOUR COINS. But, if you must... please, please, please... practice on worthless coins first and see what kind of damage you are doing with each technique. If you think you got it down, clean a bright shiny new penny and see how bad you really are. You would be surprised.

I don't think he was doing anything to the ancient coin.

[Daniel]

Their post was vague, and it sounded like they intended to clean the coin they posted and was asking for advice on how to clean it. He didn't say "coins in general" so I wanted to be clear with my answer.

A knowledgeable person knows all the different chemicals and their reactions to different metals and with the metals with the particular environmental problems, so NCS uses methods not known by the majority, but there's a certain minority of collectors that can perform the same conservation methods. It's really not that difficult, and coins are not that easy to damage unless a person is just plain ignorant.

[mhonzell]

That's the problem with having half the conversation in Private Message/e-mail.

[Daniel]

I think the answer is simple, and mhonzell you points are sound and accurate, but if you have to ask about how to clean a coin then you shouldn't clean the coin. Just as already stated, practice on common date and coins worth face value. You just don't want to experiment on coins that have a numismatic value.

All of us who have cleaned coins have ruined a coin or two in the process, so it's best not to clean a coin until you do a lot of research. Ancient coins are most always cleaned, type US Coins should left as is, and I only clean a coin if it has tape residue, adhesives or paste and gunk on the surface. I don't clean a coin if it's just a bit dirty, and I NEVER touch a copper coin.

Silver and clad coins are most forgiving with some cleaning methods but copper is not.