Snubbed by the Metal Detecting forum

[JJLarkin39]

Hey guys. My name is Jim and I live in Northern Ohio. I have had my MXT for about a year but up until three days ago I the oldest thing I had found was a quarter from 1980. Three days ago I dug a weak signal that didn't show up on my screen and found an Indian head penny from 1862 (Apparently I am on to something here). It looks like it is in fairly good shape. I posted a question about how to clean it on the main Metal Detecting board and have gotten snubbed. Nobody answered. Nobody told me to shutup. Nobody replied at all. The next question was on how to clean clad and he got a bunch of replies (even though that had been answered previously about 1000 times.)Maybe there is a secret handshake or something that I don't know about but I am hoping someone here can help me. I've learned a lot on this board but this is my first post....well second really. The original post follows:

"I am pretty new to metal detecting. I have been out a dozen times or so and have never found anything older than mid 60s clad. I was getting a little discouraged when dug a weak signal and found an 1862 Indian head penny. You would have thought that I found a million dollars. Anyway, I know I can throw the clad stuff in a tumbler but can I put old coins in a tumbler too? If not, how do I clean it up? I don't want to damage it. It looks like there is a lot of detail just waiting to come out. Thanks for your help."

Thanks for any tips. Oh yeah....how do I resize my pictures? This is kinda um.....big.
~Jim

 

[Davey]

Wow, that's an old indian and might even be a "fatty". A fatty is a lot thicker than your regular indian head penny and are more rare since they were only minted early on. I soak all my indians in olive oil for at least a month to clean them. Great job on a nice looking old indian.

Davey

 

[Mike Hillis]

Thats a nice looking coin JJ

What about a hot peroxide bath? Faster and doesn't darken the coin.

Sorry you got snubbed JJ. Sometimes folks are waiting for someone who really knows the answer to speak up.

(I don't have a MXT, but I do enjoy lurking around )

 

[Art SC]

n/t

 

[Mike Bearden]

http://www.mycoincollecting.com/collecting/cleaning-coins.html

 

[JJLarkin39]

Thanks for the help. I knew I could count on the MXT guys. Looking at this penny, that is 144 years old, it is obvious that they were made much better than our coins today. It just floors me to think that the penny I'm holding was minted when President Lincoln was in office. What a great hobby.

 

[Shuffler]

Nice post and picture,,,BUT,,,,what ever you do,,,, don't mention the word "tumbler" to lucky larry

 

[Rick(ND)]

When it comes to cleaning older coins it can be a touchy subject and hate to recommend anything that may ruin your coin. Every case is different depending on how bad the coin is, but the best I have used on those i don't know on is just a little water and a soft toothbrush. Some are so full of cud anything you do will be bad as the coin itself is flaking or pitted so when you take off some of the crud you see less detail or a lot of pits in it.
Now looking at a copper coin I like to see if it is just dirt or is the coin actually in bad shape so cleaning it may make it look rough looking. If this copper coin was found where it is wet most of the time you know the coin is in bad shape, if it is in a area with a lot of fertilizer it too will be bad and will not clean up nice. If this coin was in some sandy soil and not wet it may be in excellent shape as I will post a IH I cleaned that was in sandy soil with several nails in the same hole with my Shadow X5 I had at the time. I cleaned this coin with a hot peroxide and a very fine brass bristle brush and it really come out excellent. Some the peroxide and the brass brush come out looking tough as they are pitted as cleaning them took off the lose pieces you didn't see before.
Looking at yours from the picture as the edges looks even rough that this coin with just soap and water may be the best to do and coat it will some olive oil to bring out some detail as anything else may make it worst looking. Maybe it is just the way the picture looks, but it does look like it is pitted and flaking.
[attachment 16847 100903c.jpg]

 

[Art SC]

Reduce Picture Resolution (Pixels) Using MS Paint

If you have a digital camera it should have come with an editing program that should allow you to lower the resolution (pixel size).

However, you can also do the same using MS Paint which SHOULD already be on your computer.

Save a copy of your picture on your desktop. Actually, you can save it anywhere, but this way you can just use the icon instead of a file that you have to browse for.

Right Click on the .jpeg icon. Look for and click on "Open with..."

Choose "MS Paint."

One paint is open, look at the menu up top and Click "Image" so that the drop down menu opens.

Now Click on "Attributes".

Under "Units" Click the "Pixels" radio dial (it's usually already clicked, but make sure).

Under "Colors" Click the "Color" radio dial (it's usually already clicked, but make sure).

The width & height boxes will be showing the pixel size of your original photo as it now is.

Just clear and type in the pixel sizes you need to allow the photo to post.

A high resolution picture at full size averages at about 2272 X 1704 pixels - WAY too large. You want to reduce that to about 25% of that. That would bring the resolution down to about 600 X 450 pixels. Generally, keeping the long side in the 300-600 pixel range is more than large enough for use on the internet.

Even though this supposedly saves the picture, I ALWAYS go to File - Save as... - And then give it a new description, especially if I want to keep the original as is. You can also use this feature to CHANGE the file format, say from a .jpeg to a .gif file.

Unless you are printing them out, super high resolutions can't be seen on most monitors as being any clearer than those that are quite a bit smaller. They just LOOK bigger (you have to move the pic around just to see it) and it takes a long time for some folks (dialups) to download, so many will just give up rather than even try.

Your camera program may make this whole process even easier...I know mine does!

 

[robocoin]

Great coin. I got my IH from wendys. 1903 still in circulation. No cleaning needed.hh