British Museum Rauceby coin photos - uncleaned

[Heliodromus]

The British Museum now have photos of all their Rauceby hoard coins up, still uncleaned with two exceptions.

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/search?keyword=rauceby

Here are the two exceptions. Originally they only had the cleaned photos, but they've now added the "before" pictures too, which is interesting to see.

This one (above) is the star of the hoard, as far as I'm concerned.

I assume/hope they will get around to cleaning the rest - especially looking forward to seeing this one.

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_2022-4018-69

I still consider myself extremely fortunate to have been able to buy the coin below direct from the finder (a BM reject!).

My only complaint is having to pay more than the £66/each the BM paid for theirs !

 

I'm amused to see that my CT post on the Rauceby hoard is now the #1 Google search result on the topic, even edging out the BBC News report of the find!

 

[John Conduitt]

1 hour ago, Heliodromus said:

The British Museum now have photos of all their Rauceby hoard coins up, still uncleaned with two exceptions.

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/search?keyword=rauceby

Here are the two exceptions. Originally they only had the cleaned photos, but they've now added the "before" pictures too, which is interesting to see.

This one (above) is the star of the hoard, as far as I'm concerned.

I assume/hope they will get around to cleaning the rest - especially looking forward to seeing this one.

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_2022-4018-69

I still consider myself extremely fortunate to have been able to buy the coin below direct from the finder (a BM reject!).

My only complaint is having to pay more than the £66/each the BM paid for theirs !

 

I'm amused to see that my CT post on the Rauceby hoard is now the #1 Google search result on the topic, even edging out the BBC News report of the find!

This hoard produced a lot of nice coins - all large folles. £66 per coin would be great 😂 The findspot is unusual too - an oval pit lined with quarried limestone, with a small second hoard in the limestone. Because of this, it’s been suggested the hoard was ceremonial, perhaps in honour of Constantius I, who died 90 miles away at York in 306 (a year before the deposition date).

[Spaniard]

Very nice!...Any idea how they clean these coins?...It's a good result.

[Heliodromus]

15 hours ago, Spaniard said:

Very nice!...Any idea how they clean these coins?...It's a good result.

I don't know - certainly a great result. Most, if not all, of these seem to be identifiable without cleaning, so it seems they're focusing on aesthetics here and being careful. I'd guess it must at least partly be mechanical cleaning. Not sure if this wold be done by museum staffers or volunteers.

[John Conduitt]

2 hours ago, Heliodromus said:

I don't know - certainly a great result. Most, if not all, of these seem to be identifiable without cleaning, so it seems they're focusing on aesthetics here and being careful. I'd guess it must at least partly be mechanical cleaning. Not sure if this wold be done by museum staffers or volunteers.

I believe BM conservators clean them. They might use water, brushes, scalpels, dental tools and engraving pens (under a microscope) to separate the coins and get soil, corrosion and deposits off without damaging the coins. If they need more detail, they clean them chemically - bronze coins with sodium hydroxide/Rochelle salt, base silver with diluted formic acid.

It's a good question as to which coins they choose to clean beyond simply identifying them. It seems they always clean a small number of a hoard further for display purposes.

Edited August 20, 2022 by John Conduitt