Protection of Uncleaned Coins after Cleaning

[Artisan]

Hello,

As I am a newcomer to collecting coins I would like some advice concerning protecting coins once cleaned. Because I would like to collect Roman coins as well as other eras I decided to purchase some inexpensive uncleaned Roman coins that presumably had been found by metal detecting. I thought that the coins would be a good place to start practising cleaning techniques and coin identification. Now I understand how to remove the encrusted debris so that's not a problem but I have also read that the cleaned coins should be coated in beeswax. Unfortunately I have not been able to find out if the wax coating should be applied using a beeswax block or some sort of wax paste. If anyone could let me know I would very grateful.

[jelida]

Certainly patinated Roman bronze coins were traditionally coated with wax, which would need to be made into a paste beforehand with an appropriate solvent (or use a proprietary polish) but I feel that it tends to fill in the detail, letters etc and normally leave my found bronze un-coated, or give a thin coating of an archival (and removable) lacquer, such as Incralac which can be purchased in small quantities online.

Jerry

[Artisan]

Thank you for the information concerning the finishing of coins and the lacquer. I'll have a look for it online. Thanks again.

[copper123]

Cleaning roman is a lot harder than you might think - remember 1800 years of gunk aint easy to get rid of without spoiling the coin , many metal detector coins are hopeless cases