5/30/18 Report - 170-Year-Old Shipwreck Found. Two Substances for Treating Coins. Why Some People Don't Attend Coin Conventions.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

After 170 years and countless searches, archaeologists have discovered a famed wreck in the frigid Arctic.  Above is one of the artifacts from the Erebus.

Here is the link for more.

https://www.archaeology.org/slideshow/4567-canada-erebus-shipwreck-slideshow

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There is a lot of discussion about cleaning coins.  It is a complex subject.  A lot depends upon the coin, what it is and its condition.  Some of it comes down to your own preferences and what you like and want out of the coin.

If you've been reading this blog very long, you know that I've discussed using Muriatic acid to treat some coins - including silver reales.  Acid is what I normally use with them.  It removes incrustation and other stuff pretty well without damaging the silver coin.

I've also discussed electrolysis, which works well, especially with artifacts.  I don't generally use it with coins.

I wouldn't touch very valuable coins that are in fine condition and wouldn't recommend doing anything to those types of coins unless you really know what you are doing, but many coins found in the ocean or on the beach aren't in great condition to begin with and won't be hurt much or at all by a gentle cleaning.

I found an article about two substances that coin collectors often use.  One is acetone.  It is a solvent and will remove some substances from the surface of a coin.  Coin collectors occasionally use it.

Another substance is Verdi-Care.  Verdi-Care is a conservative.  I haven't used it, but might consider it.  I just read about it and thought you might want to know about it too.

Acetone and Verdi-Care was used on a couple bronze coins and the results compared.  Below are the conclusions.

Conclusions

In this case we'd say that acetone was the superior treatment. This may be because the green stain was not actually verdigris but rather some sort of "green slime" that was easily removed with a solvent. Perhaps the carded mint set these coins came from was stored in close proximity to PVC for a period of time and some of the PVC softeners leached through the very thin plastic protecting the coins in the mint set. Perhaps this was an unfair test, next time we'll put Verdi-Care up against acetone on a coin that has real, hard, encrusted verdigris.

Here is the link.

https://www.australian-coins.com/blog/2011/02/verdicare-coin-conservation-fluid-and-protectant.html

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Yesterday I mentioned that fewer and fewer people were attending numismatic conventions.  One person told me the reason they quit going was because they ask for and copy your ID.  Who needs that in this day of ID theft.  He said, I now deal exclusively with local mom and pop shops on the rare occasion that I have a collecting need- I have all but been driven away from the coin collecting hobby due to their arrogance (?) and have moved on to other interests.

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The world gets crazier and crazier.  Now a video game that allows players to get points by shooting students in a school.  Just what we need: a school shooting trainer.  I said before, they are worried about guns, and they ought to be worried about the culture.

http://blog.spiritdaily.com/news/horrible-new-video-game-shooting-up-a-school

And Jesse Duplantis, televangelist, trying to raise $54 million for a private jet while the king of "creepy," Stephen King, calls Mike Pence creepy.  The world is turning upside down and backward.

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On the Treasure Coast we're having south winds and a one to two foot surf.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net