Saturday, January 29, 2011

My Greek Coin: Should I Have Zapped?


I chose to Zap the coin you see above. The coin was a "tweener" and I could have filed it away and forgotten about it. However I chose to Zap the coin and I am very pleased with the results. In hand the coin has a nice rich texture and it also has what will become a nice rich patina.

I will allow the coin to patinate for a month or so before using my stop bath and I can already tell I will have a very nice coin. One upside is that I paid very little for the coin because of condition and I am well pleased.

As an art professor I did a bit of restoration work on a few paintings and I see my work with my Zapped coins from pretty much the same perspective. I am correcting and pleasing my eye. As I age (71 February 6Th) I am still blessed with a keen eye and my sense of design is what it was 50 years ago.

As a painter and teacher I was never in bondage to tradition and I feel the same about my coins. If you like my coin then we are on the same page. If not, I accept your position. I would never be upset or angry because another does not agree with me.

If you have an interest in Zapping, I will be happy to share the knowledge I have developed over the past several years. If you like my post please take a look at my blog. The URL is as follows: http://www.ancientpeddler.blogspot.com I experiment a great deal with coin photography and you may find something that will help you there also.. God Bless.. Jerry..

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Jerry,

There is a lot of controversy about this subject, different opinions and beliefs. I believe that a coin is there as a part of history, it is like a bookmark in the pages of history. It is there to be observed and admired as a thing or prestige and beauty. We restore arts, buildings etc... Why not coins If zapping is a means to clean a coin without damaging the actual coin than I agree with the method and say go ahead.

Regards
Godwin

Unknown said...

i agree with your method of restoration and it is a very beautiful coin now.

Tie Dye said...

As a collector of Greek and Roman coins the zapping method is not normally well thought of as a cleaning method. I have to admit I am on the fence with this issue. Some coins can't be cleaned any other way. But stripping off all the patina after several 1000 years in the ground seems like a travesty.
I still have coins soaking after 3 years might never be able to clean them but I check them every 6 months

quickest way to lose weight said...

Yes, preservation and restoration of Greek and Roman coins or any other coins is great thing to do because it is part of our history. Restoring it to its original form and structure is not that easy to do but with a great effort it can be possible.

Frank Kim said...

I think it's acceptable and sometimes even better to use electrolysis on ancient coins, but not when the patina IS the surface of the coin. Sometimes, the patina preserves details and such to such an extent that it should be considered the surface of the coin, literally. Then again, how can you tell by looking at a chunk of caked-on mud and metal...

mode für mollige damen said...

Well, absolutely those were great coin. I can't imagine how people create a coin without any machine being used in production. I am sure that they were able to have a hard time just to produce this coins.

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