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I was cleaning a Roman coin from a dig site with a soft brush versus a metal pick for a week and the brush kept the details clear.

I was working on a small find from a site near Hadrian's Wall, a really crusty coin. My first thought was to use a fine metal pick to chip away the dirt, but it felt too rough. I switched to a soft sable brush and just gently worked at it with water for a few minutes each day. After a week, the details on the emperor's face were way sharper than I expected. Has anyone else found that the simplest tools sometimes do the best job on delicate stuff?
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3 Comments
grantthomas
Bet I’ve got the only coin in my collection that’s both clean and has a scratch pattern that looks like modern art. Soft brush all the way, my metal pick is strictly for opening beer bottles now. Guess being gentle is just my style, or maybe my hands are too shaky for anything else.
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amy692
amy6921mo ago
Yeah, that gentle approach is basically how museum conservators work too.
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angelaellis
Ever think they were too careful?
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