Kiwi, I have never found a way to get copper coins to look "coppery". Although farm chemicals do a number on some of the copper coins I find, many have a beautiful green patina. To clean them, I simply rinse them off in cold water. Some of nicer ones get a wipe of olive oil, just to bring out the detail. Old silver coins, however, come out of the ground looking like the day they were minted. Usually a little dirty. But a simple rinse under the spigot cleans them right up. Nickels are the worst for this part of the World. Other than Buffalo nickels, I seldom find an old nickel that doesn't appear dark red in color, or has actually corroded. For some reason, the Buffalo nickels turn more of an orange. And the nickels seem "soft" right after you dig them. I remember one of the first V nickels I dug. I saw the V on the back and Lady Liberty on the front. But, I couldn't make out the date. So, I wiped it on my jeans and most of the obverse design wiped off with the dirt. I ended up with a hunk of metal with a V on one side and blank on the other. I've attached a pic of some finds I made, just as they came out of the ground. HH Randy