Cleaning Encrusted Coins (Before and After Pictures)

I dug up these old Japanese coins at the beach. The beach is black sand, and when they come out of the ground, they're well encrusted in rock-solid sand. Here's what I did to remove the sand. First, I put them in a bowl of white vinegar for two hours. After two hours, the vinegar turns a bluish color. I replace the vinegar, and leave the coins in there over night. (The reason that I soaked them in vinegar is because vinegar loosens the sand.)

Once that is up, I take them out, and one by one, I rub them with copper wool for about a minute. Most of the sand comes off, but to get into the find cracks, I got a toothbrush with some soap on it, and gently rub the toothbrush against the coins.

After that, I rinse the soap off, and dry them off. Ta-Da!

The first picture is before and the next picture is after I cleaned them.

WOW!
They look great. Nice work.

Mark